Collecting a Judgment - Show Cause Order for Contempt MD

We are in the process of trying to collect a judgment in MD pro-se. Following the steps laid out by the Maryland Court system:

- Sent out interrogatories to defendant - he ignored them.

- Filed Motion Compelling Answer to Interrogatories with court - this was served, he alse ignored

- We have now filed the Show Cause Order Order for Contempt hearing which is scheduled for May 8th. This has been served. We received a letter from the court asking us to notify them if it will last longer than 1 hour.

My question - this "Show Cause Order" is to bring him in front of the Judge to explain why is has ignored both our request and the Judge's request to complete the interrogatorries. (That is what is explained on the Maryland website). What is supposed to happen? I don't expect him to bring all of the answers or copies of the requested material to the interrogatorries with him. He is evading us to not pay. So what would last an hour? (I may be dense here).

I have not called the clerk yet because when I previously called them on a question on how to fill out one of the previous forms they told me to hire a lawyer. (And were quite snippy about it). I was not asking for legal advice. The lawyers have to learn how to fill out the forms somehwere so there should not be discrimination if someone wants to be Pro-Se on this.

Thanks for any help on what I should expect from this hearing.

RA

R_Ann1:

What is supposed to happen? I don't expect him to bring all of the answers or copies of the requested material to the interrogatorries with him. He is evading us to not pay. So what would last an hour? (I may be dense here).

Not dense. Just inexperienced.

If the defendant shows up it probably won't take even as long as an hour to get what you need to know, which is likely to be limited to information that can be used for collection of the debt, like employer, bank accounts, assets.

The following search results has some guides to appropriate questions. Make sure you prepare your list prior to arriving at court.

http://www.bing.com/search?q=debtor+examination+questions&qs=SC&form=QBLH&pq=debtore+examina&sc=8-15&sp=1&sk=

According to the MD court's Post Judgment page:

• If the defendant fails to appear for the Show Cause hearing, you are permitted to file an Attachment for Contempt (form DC 5). If the judge chooses to issue the attachment, the defendant in your case will be taken into custody by the sheriff's office and will be brought before the court to explain the failure to appear. The defendant may be required to post a bond for his or her release, which the defendant will forfeit to the state if he or she does not appear at the next hearing. Both parties will be notified of a new hearing date. 

http://www.courts.state.md.us/district/forms/civil/dccv060br.html#uncoop

Make sure you have the form ready, just in case. You can get it on the forms page:

http://www.courts.state.md.us/district/dctcivforms.html

R_Ann1:

I have not called the clerk yet because when I previously called them on a question on how to fill out one of the previous forms they told me to hire a lawyer. (And were quite snippy about it). I was not asking for legal advice.

Yeah, you were.

Any time you ask the "How do I?" or What do I?" questions beyond the self help stuff on the website, you are asking for legal advice that the clerks are not permitted to give. And there's nothing snippy about being told to hire a lawyer. That's just your perception. I've had tons of people accuse me of being snippy and rude when I give them answers they don't want to hear. Happens all the time.

When you go to court without a lawyer you are expected to know what to do.

R_Ann1:

The lawyers have to learn how to fill out the forms somehwere

Lawyers learn how to fill out forms from other lawyers as they come up through the ranks.

R_Ann1:

so there should not be discrimination if someone wants to be Pro-Se on this.

Yes, there should be. Courts have come a long way in the past few decades with comprehensive DIY stuff on their websites. If participants still have trouble figuring stuff out from all that, then they really do need a lawyer.

Thank you for your quick response. It does answer my questions - basically I get to ask him the questions on the interrogatories. This is what I thought. I just don't get any of the copies of the documents that I had requested.

Also, thanks for the heads up to have the arrest order prepared as we will be surprised if he actually shows up.

My comments on the clerks were I guess because the Maryland site has no directions on how to fill out any of their forms or what fees are required (post judgment/collections). [That's all I was asking]. The New Jersey website was much more "user-friendly". And I actually work in a legal field so I'm not totally ignorant or I wouldn't be attempting this.

Thanks again. We'll see how far we go.

RA

R_Ann1:

My comments on the clerks were I guess because the Maryland site has no directions on how to fill out any of their forms or what fees are required (post judgment/collections). [That's all I was asking].

Again, the "how do I" question is asking for legal advice. Granted, some state courts have better self help than others.

As for fees, the court fee link is on the same page as the forms. When I clicked on it I came up with the following document and the second page has the post judgment fees:

http://www.courts.state.md.us/district/forms/acct/dca109.pdf

Looks like it's $40 for the Sheriff to serve it.