What to do about a missed court date?
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What to do about a missed court date?
I was issued a summons to appear for a wage garnishment hearing. This was not sent to my address, I found out about it well after the court date. The clerk told me about the missed summons over the phone and that I needed to speak with the collection agency. They wouldn’t tell me whether I had a bench warrant. The collector’s said they had discovered I was unemployed and weren’t pursuing the garnishment any longer. The court clerk said what would probably happen next is I might recieve a citation and a new court date. Will this happen if the collector is no longer pursuing the garnshment? Should I be worried about a bench warrant or citation?
Asked on October 24, 2011 under Bankruptcy Law, Indiana
Answers:
FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
If you failed to attend a court hearing with respect to a judgment against you and a resulting garnishment hearing as to your assets resulting in the issuance of a bench warrant against you, you need to immediately take care of that bench warrant to clear it.
The best way to do this is to retain a criminal defense attorney. These attorneys have the experience and training to resolve clearing of bench warrants since they end up doing it quite often for their clients.
If you receive a citation to appear at a new hearing date for the court date you missed, you need to attend the hearing. You need to attend the next hearing date regardless if the judgment creditor is no longer intersted in collecting on the judgment against you.
Good luck.
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