New Mexico Motion for Default Judgment

A default judgment means that the court has decided that you owe money. This a result of the person suing you in small claims court and you failed to appear at the hearing.

First, you can ask the court to set aside the default judgment and give you an opportunity to contest it. Next, you can settle the debt with the debt buyer for an amount less than what the default judgment is for. And finally you can eliminate the default judgment completely by filing for bankruptcy.

Generally, if a defendant fails to respond to a complaint you can get a default judgment after 45 days. However, the court system is very slow these days and it can take several months to get the court to issue the default judgment.

What happens next? When you file your Motion and Affidavit to Set Aside Default, you will get a hearing date and time from the court clerk. At the hearing, the judge will grant or deny the motion. If the judge grants your motion, the default or default judgment will be set aside, and the case will move forward.

You cannot appeal this kind of judgment and have a new trial until you vacate the default judgment, that is, until you have the judgment removed or erased. To vacate a default judgment, do the following:Get the form called Notice of Motion to Vacate Judgment from the small claims clerk.

If you do not think the default judgment was appropriately entered against you, you must file a motion with the court asking the judge to set aside (void or nullify) the judgment. If the judge grants your motion, the case starts back up again.

The danger of allowing a default judgment against you is once this occurs the debt buyer can garnish your wages and your bank accounts.If you don't submit a written answer to the lawsuit the court can enter a default judgment giving the debt buyer everything they are asking for.

Default judgments happen when you don't respond to a lawsuit often from a debt collector and a judge resolves the case without hearing your side. In effect, you're found guilty because you never entered a defense. Default judgments are sometimes called automatic judgments because of how fast they can happen.