Unfortunately, some of my clients don’t see the warning signs of their financial situations until one of their creditors sue them. I get a lot of phone calls from people right after someone hands them a summons for a lawsuit. Sometimes, they call me from work. They’re angry and want to know if a creditor can serve them at their job.
In Colorado, a creditor can serve a collection lawsuit at work.
Colorado Rule of Civil Procedure 4(e)(1)provides that service is made by:
- Upon a natural person whose age is eighteen years or older by delivering a copy thereof to the person, or by leaving a copy thereof at the person’s usual place of abode, with any person whose age is eighteen years or older and who is a member of the person’s family, or at the person’s usual workplace, with the person’s supervisor, secretary, administrative assistant, bookkeeper, human resources representative or managing agent; or by delivering a copy to a person authorized by appointment or by law to receive service of process.
If you have been served a summons – no matter where – you should read it carefully. You need to know the deadlines for filing an answer or making an appearance in court. If you fail to respond, the creditor will get a default judgment and shortly after that will get a writ of garnishment. The writ requires your employer to deduct 20% of your take home pay. That’s a big chunk of your income, so you want to try and avoid having that much taken away. Instead, talk to the attorney suing you to see if you can make payment arrangements. As long as the payments are reasonable and realistic, you should be able to work something out that is less than 25% of your take home pay.
If you have several creditors filing lawsuits, you may want to consider talking to a Colorado bankruptcy attorney. Bankruptcy will put an immediate end to collection lawsuits and garnishments.