What happens if you're sued, but you do not have the money that you're sued for?

Question

what if you do not own a house or any type of property?

Answer 1

You will be liable for the debt until it is paid - the court does not care what you have.  Your wages can be garnished, income tax refunds taken - there are many ways to satisfy the judgment.

It depends on who sued you and what for as to any remedy you may have.  After the judgment is final, it's all over.

Answer 2

Normally the court will determine the payments and the interest rate. The person who has the judgment against you now has to act as a debt collector.

Answer 3

That is not a problem of the courts.

They will either garnish your pay or put a lein against something you own whether it be a home, business, car or boat.

Answer 4

You are still responsible for the debt.  It might be garnisheed from your paycheck or kept from your tax return.

Answer 5

You can ask the court for time to get the monies to gether. They just might grant you 30 days.

Answer 6

If the other party gets a judgment against you, they have several options. e.g. attach personal property, garnish wages, execute against bank accounts.  

Answer 7

They go after your assets like your house, car, and other personal property.

Answer 8

Assuming that a judgement enters against you, one of several things will happen.  In general, it means that you will be paying off the amount of money that you owe for many years.  The courts also have various legal tools at their disposal to enforce compliance, such as:

(1) If you fail to pay, the court can order what is called an "execution" which commands the sheriff to seize real or personal property in an amount sufficient to settle the debt.  Your property will then be auctioned off.

(2)  A court order can issue seizing a portion of your paycheck each week.  This is called "wage attachment."

(3)  Imprisonment.  If you willfully fail to pay an amount that the court has determined you should be able to pay, the judge may order you imprisoned for non-payment.  This is not the same as the old concept of "debtor's prison" where debtors worked off their debts.  Rather, imprisonment for non-payment is punitive in nature, and is intended to punish those who willfully fail to obey a court order to render payment.

*** Edit: If you do not own any valuable property that the court can find, the judgement will remain open.  If, at any time in the future, you come to own such property or assets, you will be made to surrender them.  In other words, the judgement does not go away; it will remain forever until it has been paid.  Furthermore, while the judgement remains unpaid, it will accrue interest at a rate set by law.

Answer 9

You will have to set up a payment plan.