The caller sounded panicked: “I’m so sorry I waited to call you. And it’s probably too late to do anything. But I am being sued. What do I do next?”
She called Steidl and Steinberg just in time!
Since the lawsuit hadn’t been heard yet, we had plenty of time to look at things. There are different time considerations depending on which court you are being sued at, but in almost all cases, we can halt the effects of a lawsuit.
The Bankruptcy Code has this wonderful provision called the Automatic Stay. The Automatic Stay halts almost all collection activity against you, whether it is a lawsuit, a collection call, a sheriff’s sale, a utility shutoff, a car repossession, you name it. But we need to know, and earlier is better.
Once your car has been repossessed, it takes more time and there are more hoops to go through to get it back, so why not call us before it becomes a crisis? And if your bank account has been frozen because of a judgment that a creditor received against you, we can usually get the money back (but not always). Still, why wait until the account has already been frozen? How about calling Steidl and Steinberg before the creditor gets the judgment?
There is one exception: Once the Sheriff’s Sale of your house has occurred, there is virtually nothing we can do to get it back. But before the Sheriff’s Sale has occurred, we can stop the foreclosure.
Moral of this story: It is probably not too late! But it will be if you don’t call or email Steidl and Steinberg quickly.