Advice on being sued while deployed overseas

In most states, a creditor attempting to file a lawsuit against you is required to have you personally served with a copy of the summons and complaint, meaning that a process server or sheriff's deputy would knock on your door and hand you or someone you live with a copy of the summons. If the process server cannot locate the defendant (you) to complete service of process, the creditor will usually mail a copy of the summons to your last known address via certified mail. Simply mailing someone a letter stating that they are being sued is generally not considered adequate notification, so if your mother only received is a letter addressed to you, I seriously doubt that a lawsuit has been filed against you. However, if you are worried that you have been sued, you can check with your county court clerk's office to find out if there are any pending cases listing you as a defendant. Many courts provide a searchable online database of their records, so you may be able to find out if you have been sued simply by visiting your county court's website. If your court does not provide court records online, you should be able to call or visit the court clerk's office to inquire about any lawsuits filed against you. As I mentioned previously, I doubt that you have been sued, but it certainly will not hurt to double check, especially since you have been out of the country for some time.

If the statute of limitations for filing suit on this account has passed, it is unlikely that the creditor will attempt to file a lawsuit against you. While creditors can file lawsuits on accounts with expired statutes of limitations, the defendant would usually only need to file a response with the court explaining that the statute of limitations has expired; generally speaking, the court will dismiss the lawsuit if the statute has indeed expired. Creditors usually do not file lawsuits on accounts which are out of statute, because if the court believes that a creditor filed suit despite knowing that it was time-barred from doing so, the creditor could face sanctions from the court. To read more about statute of limitations, and to find out the statute of limitations in your state for credit cards (aka "open accounts") and other types of debt, you should visit BCSAlliance.com.

The fact that you are in active duty military service, and the fact that you were deployed overseas at the time you mother received this letter, also makes me think it unlikely that this creditor has filed a lawsuit against you. Under the provisions of the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act and the newer Service Members Civil Relief Act (SCRA), most service members are protected from default judgments being entered against them while they are on active duty and deployed. For more information about these protections for persons serving in the military, I encourage you to visit www.military.com. If you have not already done so, you may want to notify your creditors in writing of your active duty military status, asking that they reduce your interest rates in accordance with the terms of the SCRA. Notifying your creditors will also put your creditors on notice of your military status, which could deter them from taking legal action against you in the future.

For additional information about debt issues, and strategies for dealing with debt, I invite you to visit the Bills.com Debt Help page.

I wish you the best of luck in resolving your outstanding debts, and hope that the information I have provided helps you Find. Learn. Save.

Best,

Bill

www.Bills.com