What makes some things “admissible” to be used in court in a trial but other things not? What makes something evidence that can be used for or against you? This video is a very short primer on evidence. Your case will almost certainly be decided on the basis of whether you can keep some things out of evidence – or whether they can get them in.
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Collection is an extremely unpleasant thing, and you will want to avoid it if possible. That means not allowing anybody to get a judgment against you.
We don’t include this information here to help you avoid collection, however. This information should help you understand the legal status of your assets for purposes of your negotiation planning. Remember: you should think long and hard about giving a debt collector any protected assets (which all of these exemptions are), but that does not mean you should never do so. These exemptions are the exemptions provided under Missouri law (paraphrased – look up the law for exact statutory language), but different states have very different rules on some of these exemptions (most notably on homesteads). For an exact understanding of all the exemptions under your state’s laws, we suggest you google the term “exemptions from levy” plus your state’s name.
There are specific procedures you would follow in order to claim these exemptions if a levy (garnishment) occurred, but again, we include this information simply as a guide to understanding the legal character of your assets.
513.430 RSMo. 2010 et seq. provides the following exemptions:
1. Household furnishings and goods, clothes, appliances, books… held primarily for personal, family or household use of the debtor or a dependent, not to exceed $3,000 total.
2. A wedding ring worth not more than $1,500, plus other personal jewelry worth no more than $500 total.
3. Any property, of any kind, not to exceed $600 in value in total.
4. Implements, professional books or tools of the trade of the debtor or a dependent worth not more than $3,000.
5. Any motor vehicle worth not more than $3,000.
6. Any mobile home used as the principle residence but not on or attached to property owned by the debtor, worth no more than $5,000.
7. Any unmatured life insurance contracts.
8. Amount of any unaccrued dividend or interest under, or loan value of, any one or more unmatured life insurance contracts.
9. Professionally prescribed health aids for debtor or dependents.
10. Right to receive social benefit, unemployment compensation, or a local public assistance benefit, veteran’s benefits, disability, illness or unemployment benefits, or a stock bonus plan (etc.).
11. Right to receive money or property traceable to a payment on account of the wrongful death of an individual on whom the debtor was dependent (with some limitations).
12. A homestead consisting of a house and appurtenances and land worth not more than $15,000.
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act is a powerful (fairly) new law aimed at businesses that call you on your cell phone without being invited – or that send you annoying, unsolicited faxes. Unfortunately, there are all too many companies that do this. Fortunately, every time they do do it, they are liable to you for $500 (plus the costs of the suit and – if you actually do have real damages – for any actual damages you can show, if they are more than the $500.
The National Do-Not-Call Registry (will help in asserting rights under TCPA)
This is the third video in this series. Click here for video 2. And here for video 1.
This is the first of a series of videos and reports designed to teach you about the debt collection process and litigation. You can find the second video of this series here.
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I have sometimes spoken of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) as both a “shield” and a “sword” – a fairly common legal metaphor for a law which has both offensive and defensive capabilities. Let’s consider a few of those capabilities in this article.
The FDCPA prevents debt collectors from taking advantage of you in various ways. When you are first contacted by a debt collector, for example, it is supposed to notify you of two important rights: you have the right to dispute the debt and seek “verification” of it; and you must know that anything you tell the debt collector will be used in further attempts to collect the debt from you. (We call this right the “mini-Miranda,” after the right you have, in a criminal context, not to incriminate yourself.) If you dispute and seek verification, the debt collector is required not to take further collection activities against you until after verifying the debt. If it does take further actions, it is in violation of the FDCPA (giving you the right to sue it). If the debt collector sues you before providing verification, you may seek to dismiss the case pursuant to the FDCPA. It is this ability to stop the lawsuit that I consider the true “shield” of the FDCPA. For more information on your right to verification, see Requiring Debt Collectors to Validate – Your Secret Weapon.
The FDCPA also requires a debt collector to bring suit against you either where the contract it is seeking to enforce against you was signed or where you reside. This means it cannot sue you in a place which is inconvenient or expensive for you to reach. If it sues you in the wrong jurisdiction, it is again both a violation that gives you the right to sue it and a legal tool you can use to seek dismissal of the case.
There are many other rights provided by the FDCPA which prevent or require the debt collector to stop doing certain things. That’s the essence of any law – that it requires or prevents certain actions. Speaking very broadly, the FDCPA prohibits any sort of unfair methods or deceptive communications on the part of the debt collector. We will discuss these prohibited actions in greater detail in other articles, but in this article we will discuss the ways you can use debt collector violations to your benefit.
If a debt collector violates the FDCPA and then sues you, as is quite often the case, or if it violates the FDCPA in the process of suing you, you can file a counterclaim against it. Basically this means that when you answer the petition (also sometimes called a “complaint”) against you, you will add a claim against the debt collector to your denials that you owe them money. And you will ask for money to penalize them for breaking the law and an order of the court that they should stop. I have often advocated the use of a counterclaim as an important way to keep the debt collector from simply dropping the case just before trial without eliminating the debt. For more information on the values and advantages of counterclaims, see The Importance of Counterclaims.
If a debt collector violates the FDCPA and then does not sue you, or if you defend the suit without bringing a counterclaim and later want to sue the debt collector, you can do so with the FDCPA. You can bring an original lawsuit against the debt collector in either state or federal court, and again, you will be asking for the “statutory penalty” of “up to $1,000,” an order of the court to make them stop doing whatever they were doing, and – if justified – “damages,” which could include money for emotional distress. We will discuss possible “remedies” – what you can get – of the FDCPA in future articles.
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