It's A Default

 We received bad news in the mail this past weekend.   Remember I mentioned last month that we (technically Dom but it still affects me) got served last month from the local Sheriff's office for some past hospital debt.    Dom's court date was on May 11 but we opted not to attend.   I probably should've pushed Dom more to file a response but I ultimately didn't.   Dom surprisingly asked if we should go the weekend before.   Since we didn't file a response I didn't think it made any sense to go at that point.    

So the 11th came and went.   We received two pieces of mail declaring that a default judgment was made against Dom and that he owes over $5000.    I surmised that they would look to garnish Dom's wages.   From what I understand they could take up to 15% of his earnings to pay down the debt.   The rub is that Dom is not working so he's not collecting a paycheck.    The most they can do now is freeze his assets which are his personal bank account and our joint account (because his name is on it).    But he's not funding either of those currently.   I fund the joint account because the monthly mortgage is automatically getting withdrawn from it.   Plus sadly Dom is still buying doll crap that I have to cover because it may potentially affect our mortgage payments.

When we found out about the original court date, the first thing I had Dom do was go to his hospital portal to see if he could see anything about what was owed.    We saw there was debt for over $2500 but not the $5000+ that the collectors were claiming.   I paid $1500 of that debt so far (well charged my credit card).

I have to admit I'm extremely frustrated with Dom.   He seems to think that life is for buying dolls and accessories and everything else be damned.   He just has no sense of responsibility.   But this is nothing new.   

I went back to ChatGPT to see if there was anything that could be done.   It was suggested to file a Motion To Set Aside Default Judgment and file it with the court as well as mail a copy to the plaintiff's lawyer.   It came up with a motion that I was able to print out at my job this past Monday.    Then I drove to the court yesterday to drop off the motion and mail out the copy with return receipt.

Assuming the motion is honored, we'll likely get a new court date that we have to attend.   The plaintiff will have to explain how they came up with $5000 when the health portal only shows half of that.  I guess is the difference their finder's fee?   Ultimately whatever the settlement is, I'm going to have to pay it.   What a mess.   For better or worse, right?