I hope this if the correct forum, if not I hope someone will kindly move it for me.
Let me start by saying that I am not asking for legal advice, just a legal definition.
Here’s the background story (you knew there’s be one, right?). I have a friend, although I use the term loosely and am reconsidering it altogether in light of her recent stupid actions…we will call her Debtress McStupidhead (not her real name ;)) and she is married, but currently separated from her husband, Debtor McStupidhead (also not his real name). No papers have been filed, no divorce is in process, she just moved out. Well, when she moved out, she quit paying on all of their joint debts (including the lease of their house) and apparently he did too because they were summoned to court recently due to their landlord (property management company, not an individual) filing a “forcible detainer” action against them seeking back rent, damages and eviction from their house.
Debtress McStupidhead decided that it was all her husband’s responsibility since she moved out already and she failed to show up for court or file any kind of answer. Debtor McStupidhead showed up and “confessed judgment”.
This is the term that I want help defining, “confessed judgment”. I believe it means he showed up said, “Yup, they are right I owe that and I won’t fight a judgment being entered against me.” However Debtress McStupidhead disagrees.
She was not concerned enough to show up for court but was concerned enough to look up the case on the district court’s website to see the outcome. It says: (some details obviously edited)
So I read this and see a judgment against two people, one of whom admits he owes it and one whom received a default judgment because she was too stupid to show up. Debtress McStupidhead reads it differently though, she believes the amount of judgment against her isn’t. In other words she believes the judge would have charged that money (and restitution of premises) to her, but since she moved out already and her husband “confessed judgment” it means that she is now entirely off the hook and that the entire judgment is against him because he confessed to it. I guess she thinks that means he accepted her share as well.
I am pretty confident that I am reading it more correctly than she, but told her I would check around to make sure. I am encouraging her to clean up this mess, but she thinks she is golden right now…it’s a bad trait amongst the McStupidheads it seems.