What is a Default Judgment and Can it Be Vacated?

Added: 2026-05-10

[00:00:00]Hey everybody, John Skiba here from the Consumer Warrior YouTube channel. And in today's video, we're going to talk about default judgments, what they are, how the heck do you got this in the first place, and maybe some options on how you can deal with it and moving forward.

[00:00:12]First, my name is John Skiba. I'm an attorney in the state of Arizona. I help people who are dealing with serious debt problems. If you're looking for an attorney and you're in the state of Arizona, my information is below. All right, let's talk about default judgments. Now, if you have been sued by a debt collector or anybody for that matter, if the civil lawsuit is filed, typical procedure is they file their complaint, they get a summons from the court, and then they are required to serve you with a copy of the complaint and the summons. Now, in the state of Arizona, from the day that they serve you, from the day that they drop off that paperwork, you have 20 calendar days to file a written response called an answer with the court. If you don't file an answer with the court, then the creditor is able to go and get a judgment against you. If it's a judgment where you didn't respond, they call it a default judgment because you defaulted on it. It wasn't something where you went to trial and it was contested, but it's a default because you didn't respond to it. Now, you would be shocked. I I've been doing this for over 20 years here in the state of Arizona, how many people I meet that have default judgments and they aren't even aware that that default was out there. The reason why we see so many default judgments that have been out there for years and people aren't even aware of it is because often service of process, that initial step where the creditor's required to provide you notice of the complaint and the summons, that step is not properly followed. Or if it is, that's because the court has given them a an order that allows them to serve you through an alternative method. Now, the default method when it comes to serving a complaint and a summons is again, they come by your house, they knock on the door, and they drop off the complaint and the summons. They have to leave it with you or someone of suitable age and discretion who lives with you. Can't leave it with your friend who's just there for the evening for dinner or something like that, and it has to to where you live. It has to be your residence. They can't drop it off at a rental property you own or at your parents' house. They've got to drop it off where you live and leave it either with you or someone who lives with you in order for service to be effective.

[00:02:08]Now, the problem that a lot of debt collection companies run into and a lot of law firms that represent debt collectors is when they go to serve people, people are either dodging service, they're trying to avoid the process server, or they simply don't live there anymore or they can't find a good address. When that happens, debt collectors can then go and ask the court to enter something called an alternative service order. The alternative service order is where the debt collector is saying, "Hey judge, we can't find him."

[00:02:33]Or "Hey judge, we know that they're there, but they're dodging us." Then the court will allow them to serve you through an alternative method. Now, I can tell you in the old days, they used to allow them to post it in the classified section of some random newspaper. Most younger people probably don't even know what a classified section of a newspaper is, but even back then, nobody actually got notice of it, and so people end up with a default judgment. Nowadays, what I see, at least in Arizona, is all of the courts will allow them to mail a copy to the last known address, they have to tape a copy to the door, and sometimes if they have an email address, they even require them to email a copy of the complaint and summons. So, just a warning, if you receive a complaint and a summons and they tape it to the door, if you get a copy in the mail, or if you even have a copy emailed to you, don't ignore it.

[00:03:16]This is something you actually need to respond to. The court may have granted this alternative service order, and just because it's not the typical way of a process server or constable coming by and dropping it off, you need to be aware that you might still be effectively served by the creditor taking those steps. So, the problem that we run into with alternative service orders specifically is that most people don't ever get any actual knowledge that the order has been entered or the service has actually taken place. So, there's this bad situation where service has been accomplished according to the procedures that the court has said, you're not even aware it's happened, 20 days comes and goes, and the court enters a default judgment against you because you did not file an answer with the court. So, what if you find yourself in this situation? And I can tell you where it happens the most is you're getting ready to buy a house, you're trying to sell your house, something where you're trying to get credit, whatever it is, and all of a sudden the title company comes to you and say, "Are you aware that there's a judgment that's out there?" Not only that, that the creditor has recorded it and then it's now acting as a lien against your home, and they want you to get that squared away before you can sell the house or before they're going to approve you for a loan. So, like I said, I see this all the time where people come to me and they're like, "This thing's been out here for 10 years. I didn't even know it existed. And so, what can I do with it?"

[00:04:27]I really give people three options when there's a default judgment that's been entered. And I'm going to go into each of these in detail. So, the first is you can litigate it or fight back against the default judgment. The second is you can settle the default judgment. You can offer to pay something less than what it is that actually they're saying is owed.

[00:04:42]And then third, is you can file bankruptcy, get rid of the debt, and usually get rid of any liens or anything like that on your property. Let me walk through each of those. First one is you can litigate it. If it's something like I said, where they did not serve you correctly, that very first step is vital to the default judgment being legitimate. If the creditor did not serve you correctly, but they have an alternative service order and they didn't follow the court's instructions exactly, then it's something where the court will vacate or set aside the default judgment. Not only that, even if it's super old, let's say it's 10 years old and you find out that they didn't serve you correctly, then it's something where you can go and ask the court, you can file a motion to vacate the default judgment saying, "Look, they didn't serve me correctly, so everything else that followed is void." Arizona law says if the court see that, if they see that the first step of service did not take place, then it's something that they can actually reach out, courts don't have any discretion, they have to unwind that, get rid of the judgment. Here's a little caveat, it doesn't get rid of the lawsuit, it gets rid of the judgment, but then you have a chance to present any defenses that you have or to try try negotiate a settlement at that point.

[00:05:46]That can be a huge benefit because in Arizona civil judgments are good for 10 years and then they can be renewed every 10 years. And so I'll see judgments that are 5, 10, 15, 20 years old that been accruing all this kind of interest over the years. We get that unwound, get the judgment vacated, it takes us back to step one. All that interest, all those fees, all that is gone. Now we're back to the principal amount where you can negotiate something that's more reasonable with the creditor to get it taken care of and done with once and for all. Now, the second option is settlement. If you get some of the documentation, if you go and get the affidavit of service and you look and it looks like yeah, you were served or maybe your teenage child got served who lived with you and they didn't tell you about it and so there isn't really a strong defense or a strong argument for getting the judgment vacated, then it is something where you're probably stuck with it. Then it is we need to focus on trying to settle the judgment. This is where you're offering something less than the amount that's actually owed, the amount that they're seeking and try to negotiate either a lump sum or a payment plan. We help with that as well where we can kind of look at your background and try to determine what's an appropriate offer, what's the creditor likely to accept and negotiate that on your behalf. Now, the third option is a bankruptcy filing. A bankruptcy eliminates, particularly chapter 7 bankruptcy, which is what most cases are filed under, will eliminate credit cards, medical bills, personal loans. It'll also eliminate the default judgment even if they recorded it and even if it acts as a lien on your home, in most cases we could file a motion with the court, gets rid of the lien and gets rid of the debt once and for all.

[00:07:23]So, those are really your three options.

[00:07:24]You can test the default judgment, you can settle it or you can file bankruptcy on it. If you're dealing with the default judgment and you need some help and you're in the state of Arizona, my contact information is below. We do free consultations, happy to see how we can help you get this thing in the rearview mirror once and for all. Thanks for watching.