I am a lawyer, but I am not licensed in your state, I don’t know the law in your state, I probably couldn’t find your state on a map, and once again, you really need a lawyer licensed in the state you are in to tell you what to do.
Without having seen the Complaint, I am wondering if the reason that you were served is that Grandma left you and the other defendants an interest in the house and for them to foreclose, they need to serve notice on you. I’ve done similar cases in my jurisdiction, where to figure out who gets what in the estate or to challenge a will, we need to serve all of the beneficiaries. For purposes of the type of suit that I am describing, you would “sue” the 7 year old, through her next friend, and a GAL would probably be appointed.
Also, you need to get someone to respond very quickly since in my state you have three weeks to respond.
Another possibility: Since they’re suing a little child, someone could tell this whole mess to a newspaper, or TV station (especially around November, which I believe is a sweeps month), or something like that. Who doesn’t love to hate on a collections agency, especially one pulling something like this?
Admittedly, you don’t go into collections if you’re not thick-skinned, but at least it might make them a little uncomfortable.
Here is a link to the State Bar of California’s referral services. When you call, have at hand the complaint that was served upon you; describing it may help them steer you to someone in the right practice area.
When a person dies during actual and contemplated litigation it is normal to array the legal heirs and implead them as parties. Age is no consideration, I sued someone who was all of 12 days old at the time of service This is done not necessarily for malevolent reasons, but since the other side usually truly has no idea how the estate will be divided, and suing all relatives is the easiest way of finding out. I do not think the OP is liable personally (unless she is also on as a guarantee). She could however be liable from her share of grannys estate if any. She should contact a lawyer, sooner rather
than later. If anything a lawyer could ensure that an executing court is aware of what is her property from the beginningand what came to her from the estate
I had a client a couple of years ago who attempted to avoid lawyers and sort it out
himself in the mistaken belief that no one could come after him because he had no nexus with his grandfathers debt and he was a decent guy, etc etc. Oops, sorry, the executing Court attached and ordered auction of his house. On appeal,all I had to do was tell the Bench that this house was not part of the estate and we got a reversal. My first reported case.
To the OP, see a lawyer, now.
These threads are funny. Some responders have these bizarre revenge fantasies involving the legal system and the media that will only be, at best, colossal wastes of time and/or money.
Like this. Why would a tv station give half a shit about something as mundane as this? Stuff like this happens every day in every town.
It’s already been explained why a potential beneficiary would be named in a suit. I mean this is a matter of: 1. Tell the agency that one of the named people is a child. 2. The agency says, “oops, we didn’t know.” 3. The End. If the child actually did get funds from the estate (which didn’t happen in this case but the agency doesn’t know that) and the estate has debts, then the child has to give the funds back to pay off the debt.
The OP received a complaint from GMAC, not a court. Nothing legal has actually happened yet. Personally, knowing that I had absolutely no legal connection to this mortgage, I wouldn’t even bother with a lawyer. My first response would be to call GMAC, announce my total lack of anything to do with that business, and ask them not to contact me again about the matter. I may follow it up with a letter stating the same. If they STILL persist (and if you truly have no connection to the mortgage it should never even get to this point) to the point of actually filing a judgement suit, I would get a notice from the court. At this point I may actually pony up some $$ to have a lawyer respond, but even then my response (and I have actually done this) would more likely be to answer the notice myself and perhaps even file a counter-suit. None of this is particularly complicated stuff.
Of course, all of this is predicated on the ironclad fact that you have nothing to do with the mortgage in question.
I’ve had consults with lawyers a couple of times over the years, and they didn’t charge me for the 10-15 minute chat in their offices. Sometimes I enlisted their services, sometimes not.
A lawyer may advise you, for free, that you can just write a simple “fuck you” letter yourself, and wash your hands of the affair.
What if there was a will leaving the house to the OP, but the stupid uncle suppressed it in favour of pretending there wasn’t one and settling the estate as he saw fit? And he’s let the house go into foreclosure, through lack of making the payments.
If she signs it away, without checking, she could be providing the bank with a windfall on a house which could be mostly paid for and sold at a profit for the OP.
I vote consult a lawyer, pay him to look into the settlement of the estate, and your interests. It could be one short office visit, a few phone calls and done.
The OP moves on to a future with no question marks, knowing how everything was resolved and that her interests are covered.
As others have said, debts don’t inherit. Anyone with a legal claim against your grandmother has a claim against the property she left behind, but it doesn’t go further than that. So having received no property that was part of your grandmother’s estate should put you in the clear.
BUT as others have also said, you’ll need a lawyer to make sure that gets said in the correct way, at the correct time, and in the correct place to ensure that you’re off the hook.
I’m not in the OP’s jurisdiction, but in my jurisdiction, the Complaint is the document that is used to initiate the lawsuit. In the OP’s shoes, I would consult an attorney who specializes in real estate law and probate law.
You need a lawyer in the jurisdiction where the case is filed. I see from your profile that you live in California, but the nature of the suit means that it is not likely filed in California. I would be interested in helping you if it is filed in California in the Bay Area.
Frankly, if they got a judgment against me some how, I’d feel it was so ridiculous that I’d file bankruptcy 15 minutes after the judgment was issued. Not that I want or need to otherwise file a BK, but it’s not like I have AAA credit (I’ve been building it up from, well, nothing over the last few years, but it still isn’t even near perfect). Me being held liable for this nonsense would be so utterly wrong that I wouldn’t have a single ounce of guilt about filing a Chapter 7 and telling them to, legally at least, suck my dick. Either way though, I’m going to respond.
The paperwork says on the top:
Not to my knowledge. Again though, uncle didn’t go through the proper channels for. . . well, anything, and I didn’t contest anything because I don’t care. Well, didn’t. Clearly, I care now.
Mom says she was told there was no will by uncle. Whether this is actually true or not, I can’t say.
Thank you all so much for your words of encouragement, camaraderie, and sympathy. I posted this right before bed last night and color me surprised to find so many responses when I got on this morning. You all are the best-- in fact, I bet most of you wouldn’t even sue me for $165,000!
We have an attorney we refer a lot of our clients to for bankruptcies (and hell, I’ve sent more than a few of my friends his way, too) and he looked at the paperwork this morning and placed a call to the firm on the paperwork. We’re going to meet up in a few days and, in exchange for some Starbucks, he’s going to let me know what to do here. Obviously, if I need something fancy written up by a lawyer, I’m happy to pay him to do that (if it’s something he does, if not, I’m sure he can refer me). So, hopefully this will get handled swiftly and easily.
I’m more concerned about my mom than anything- she doesn’t have money to hire an attorney to handle this for her.
One thing I do wonder: don’t you have to sue someone where they live? I’ve always thought that was the case, but here I- a California resident-- am being sued in Illinois. Was I completely wrong about this? I’m, quite clearly, not a lawyer.
