If my business was sued for not paying a bill, can the creditor garnish my personal accounts like they have my business accounts?

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If my business was sued for not paying a bill, can the creditor garnish my personal accounts like they have my business accounts?

I tried to represent myself and was not allowed and could not afford an attorney so verdict against me was entered. The suit also listed me personally so verdict against me entered also. The other parties attorney is now filing motions and trying to garnish my business accounts and I am not being sent any of the motions or orders. Why aren’t they sending motions and orders to me?

Asked on October 8, 2015 under Business Law, Indiana

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 8 years ago | Contributor

Something strange is going on if your business was an LLC or corporation, it is proper that you could not represent the business if you are not an attorney--only lawyers may represent LLCs and corporations.
However, if you were named personally, you should have been able to represent yourself any person can legally be his/her own attorney, even though its often a bad idea.
You may be able to untangle this mess and at least get the judgment against you personally set aside, but that will involve a motion to reconsider, a motion to set aside the default, or an appeal, depending on the exact procedural facts. This will not be easy, and even if you get that judgment set aside, it will not mean you win--it just means that they'll have to try again and you'll get your day in court. Of course, if this is business debt and your business was an LLC or corporation, you should not be personally liable unless you personally guaranteed the bill, so you may have a good defense to personal liability.
As a practical matter, you probably need an attorney  to fight this. If the amount of money at stake is less than the cost of an attorney, you're probably best off just paying otherwise, hire the lawyer.


IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.

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