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Frequently Asked Questions
& General Information Sources
If You Are Sued for a Debt
that You Owe
by: Texas RioGrande
Legal Aid
You may be served
with papers informing you that you have been sued.
Look through the papers to see if the plaintiff
(the creditor) filed an affidavit, making it a Suit
on a Sworn Account. This means that they have sworn,
under oath, that their claims against you are true
- that is, that you do, in fact, owe the debt that
they claim you owe. Basically, the creditor is suing
you for not paying them for what they sold you.
If the creditor
filed a Suite on a Sworn Account and you feel that
you do not owe what they claim you owe, you are
required to swear to a written denial that you owe
them money. You do this by filing an affidavit with
the court, which is your written, signed oath that
your answer is truthful. You should only do this
if you truly do not owe the debt, or if they have
not stated the correct amount of the debt. If you
wrongfully claim that you do not owe the money,
you could be committing a crime called perjury.
If you do owe the debt, you should write a letter
to the court and explain your situation and why
you can't pay this debt at this time. You should
send a copy of this letter to the opposing counsel.
You should make sure that you put the docket number
of the lawsuit, i.e., the long number on the top
of the first page of the Plaintiff’s Original
Petition, on your letter so the court will know
which suit you are writing about. You do not have
long to file your affidavit or write your letter
to the court after you are sued. You only have about
20 days from the date you are served to file your
Answer or letter, so do not delay.
After you have been
sued, you may also receive several documents: Request
for Disclosures, Interrogatories, Request for Production
of Documents and Things, and Request for Admissions.
If you read through these requests, you will see
a list of questions from the creditor asking you
to tell them what people, papers and things you'll
be bringing to the hearing to support your answer.
They may also ask you to state your view of the
facts of the matter. And they may also ask you to
give them copies of certain papers (checks or receipts),
or allow them to inspect certain things (goods they
sold you). You must answer these questions as fully
and as truthfully as you can, and allow them to
see the papers and things, by the dates given on
the requests. If you don't, the court could rule
for your creditor.
After the court
receives your answer/affidavit or letter, it will
send you a letter telling you the time, date, and
place of your hearing. YOU MUST SHOW UP FOR THE
HEARING. If you don't show up for the hearing, the
court could rule for your creditor. Please be aware
that showing up for the hearing is not the same
as filing an answer. You must do both, or risk losing
in court. It would be wise to get there early. Bring
all the people who will be speaking for you, and
all the papers and things that you will be using
to support your case. (Such as bills you received,
checks you wrote, or damaged goods.) At the hearing,
the creditor will get to speak first. When they
have finished, you will be allowed to ask them questions
you might have about what was said or shown to support
their case. Then you will get your turn to speak.
When you have finished, the creditor will be allowed
to ask questions about what was said or shown to
support your case. When both sides have nothing
further to say or show and no more questions, the
court will make a decision. It would be a good idea
to write down what you want to say before going
to the hearing.
The creditor may
get a judgment against you, which is an order by
the court for you to pay the debt plus court costs,
interest and attorney fees. The court will send
you a notice telling you how much you owe and when
the payments are due. But if you cannot pay the
debt, the creditor cannot take your home, your household
goods, your car, put you in jail or send your children
to foster care. If they cannot collect the money
from you, they will likely file an Abstract or Judgment
in the county land records office. This means they
will have a claim called a lien to the money you
make if you sell any home or land that you own.
The lien lasts for ten years and can be renewed.
The Abstract of Judgment is only meant to allow
the creditor to collect what you have been ordered
to pay them. It does not allow them to foreclose
on or take your home or land. But it could make
it difficult for you to sell your home or land.
It could also make it hard for you to borrow money
and could hurt your credit rating. Even so, you
should not sacrifice your basic needs (food, housing,
utilities, medicines, transportation, etc.) trying
to pay the judgment.
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