Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. I am
only publishing my interpretation of my situation. You should seek your
own legal representation for your own particular
situation. Do not rely on my
opinions or statements for your own purposes as state
and local law varies as do individual circumstances.
Use LegalMatch to Find a Local Trustworthy Lawyer in Your Area.
As you may recall, I was recently taken to Small Claims
Court in Pensacola, Florida for unpaid condo association dues to
the tune of about eleven thousand dollars ($11,000... not so
small, huh). I had not paid the condo fees since December of
2007 when I stopped making my mortgage payments. They took me to
Small Claims Court (which I had thought was topped at $5,000;
but boy, was I corrected) and won a judgment against me. It was
actually a Small Claims Court hearing which I did not attend as
I knew I owed the money and there was no sense contesting it.
With the judgment, the
prosecuting attorneys decided to push the matter as far as they
could push it and do whatever they legally can do in the best
interest of their client (the condo association) to get money
out of me so they summoned me to a deposition. Yes, just the
name can be a little intimidating. Plus, when you go to a
deposition, you have to swear under oath and be recorded by a
court reporter - even scarier as we all saw what happened to
Bill Clinton when he lied under oath (not that I would lie, but
I would probably sweat about saying something wrong). Of course,
anything involving lawyers can be a little intimidating.
The date for the
deposition had been set for this coming Thursday. The opposing
attorneys sent me a letter ahead of time detailing all of the
documentation that they wanted from me during the deposition
(under oath and recorded by a court reporter). It was quite an
extensive list. They wanted details on every asset that I own
including car titles, real estate deeds, bank statements,
brokerage statements, income tax returns... any asset that I
owned. Plus, they wanted documents for up to three years
back - I suppose so they could track down any funds or assets
that might have been moved in an attempt to hide it. Getting all
of this together was going to be a daunting task. I freaked!
Yes, I freaked; and I
folded. I called my lawyer last Friday and asked for payoff
amounts with the idea that I might just pay off the condo fees
and keep paying them until the properties foreclosed or sold or
the money ran out; and even though I was surprised at how much
money it would take to payoff the judgment and keep the condo
fees current, I still felt it was far better than having to go
under oath (and in front of a court reporter which I think might
be worse than a judge). Get a load though of how much money I
needed to fork over...
| ● |
Judgment Amount |
$11,086.87 |
|
● |
Interest on Judgment |
$153.64 |
|
● |
Condo A Special Assessment |
$102.85 |
|
● |
Condo A Special Assessment Interest |
$2.80 |
|
● |
Condo A July Condo Fee |
$266.60 |
|
● |
Condo A July Condo Fee Late Charge |
$25.00 |
|
● |
Condo A Condo Fee Interest |
$7.28 |
|
● |
Condo A August Condo Fee |
$102.85 |
|
● |
More fees |
|
|
● |
More interest charges |
|
|
● |
More late charges |
|
|
● |
Same for the second condo except higher dollars... |
|
By the time all of the
numbers were added together, I needed to come up with
$14,228.64!!!! Plus, every month, in order to keep the condo
association dues and special assessments current, I have to come
up with about $1,100!!! Dang it man, that is a lot of money!
Still, I keep thinking
back to Reagan and Clinton on the stand, under oath testifying
(granted, Ronald did it better; but I do not think they will let
me get away with saying "I do not recall"). I just do not want
to have to go through the hassle of pulling together deeds and
titles and three years of detailed financial statements. Neither
do I want to file for bankruptcy. My only option left is to pay
them off and keep the hounds at bay (that is a pretty fair
analogy). So that is what I am doing.
Today, I sold a chunk of
stock - enough to cover the total balance from my individual
brokerage account (not my 401k and not my IRA). Hopefully, I
will never have to sell from the 401k or the IRA as I think
these are pretty well protected should I actually need to resort
to bankruptcy. Still, my individual accounts are nearly empty.
No doubt, they will be zero soon enough.
For those of you who read
my post of "What should Noah payoff?", I have not paid off
anything else except this judgment. I have not paid off my
student loans. I have not paid off my car lease. I have not paid
off my rent. I am just paying off whoever screams the loudest.
My lawyer got the
opposing lawyers to postpone the deposition to the middle of
next month. By then, the stocks will have sold and the money
will have been transferred to my checking account so that I can
then write them a check and pay them off... all nearly $15,000.
I have got to find some way to sell these houses.
|
