Author Archives: gebeloff

The Purpose of an Attorney Demand Letter in a Collection Case

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Upon receipt of a new claim in our office, our lawyers send  a debt collection demand letter to the debtor. Our law firm demands that payment be made for the amount that is due and owing to our debt collection clients. The collection demand letter sent to the debtor serves several purposes. The first is to let the debtor know that our collection firm has been retained by the creditor. We are also able to determine if the address is valid to serve the summons and debt collection lawsuit on the defendant if  our collection attorneys  are unable  resolve the matter pre-litigation.

Florida Collection Attorney and Collection Law Firm

Florida Collection Attorney and Collection Law Firm

During this initial period of time, our collection attorneys will also determine the corporate identity of the debtor. The lawyers from our debt collection law firm will make telephone demands on the debtor. Our collection firm strives to give our  debt collection clients an assessment as to the prospects of collecting their money on their past due receivables. In this tough economy our attorneys try  to determine if there is a legitimate dispute on the account, the debtor has cash flow problems or simply is flat out ignoring demand for payment of the debt.

Please feel free to contact our collection law firm and speak to our Florida collection lawyer about the specifics facts surrounding your Florida debt collection case. You may mail or email your supporting documents to our collection firm. Our Florida collection attorney will review your account and then contact you to devise a strategy for your collection matter.

Stephen B. Gebeloff, P.A.
5255 N. Federal Hwy., 3rd Floor
Boca Raton, FL 33487
(561)953-4600
fax(561)953-4610
[email protected]

 

 

 

Can I Collect Attorneys’ Fees Without a Written Agreement in a Florida Collection Case

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Yes, typically in order for a creditor to collect attorney’s fees from the debtor there would be to have a credit application, purchase order or invoice that clearly stated that in the event the creditor has to proceed to take collection action, the debtor would be responsible to pay for the reasonable fees and costs of collection. Without any writing allowing for recovery of attorney’s fees, depending on the facts of the case, there may be a Florida Statute that would allow for the award of attorneys’ fees to the prevailing party in the litigation. Absent the above, the general rule in Florida is that each party is responsible for their own attorneys’ fees.

Stephen Gebeloff Florida Colletion Lawyer

Aggressively Pursuing Our Clients’ Interests  Tempered by Seasoned Professionalism

However, if there are no provision for attorneys’ fees in the creditor’s documents, a Florida creditor may wish to consider a Proposal for Settlement. In short by filing a proposal for settlement, the creditor would need to be awarded at least twenty-five (25%) percent more than its offer to the defendant. Thus, if a creditor was owed $100.00 and filed an offer for settlement of $50.00, the creditor would need to have a court award at least $75.00 or more. If the creditor extends such an offer and the debtor does not timely accept the offer and the Court awards at least 25% more than the offer, the creditor can apply to the Court for an award of its attorneys’ fees from the date the offer was to have been accepted.

This can be an effective strategy to get a debtor to be more realistic about settling a case. The drawback for the creditor would be that if the debtor accepted the offer for settlement, the creditor would have to settle for 25% less of the full value of the case. Please feel free to contact our Florida collection law firm and speak to our Florida collection attorney about Offers for Settlement and the specifics facts surrounding your Florida debt collection case. You may mail or email your supporting documents to our collection firm. Our Florida collection attorney will review your account and then contact you to devise a collection strategy for your Florida collection matter.

Stephen B. Gebeloff, P.A.
5255 N. Federal Hwy., 3rd Floor
Boca Raton, FL 33487
(561)953-4600
fax(561)953-4610
[email protected]

 

Can Officers of a Corporation Be Personally Liable for Goods Shipped or Sevices Provided

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Yes, in instances of fraud or if it is proven that the officers made negligent misrepresentations of fact, the officers of a corporation can be held personally liable for the debt of a corporation. A good example would be when the debtor corporation places an order for $1,000.00 of goods and or services but, in reality the corporation, at the time, only had the financial ability to pay for $150.00 . When subsequently trying to collect money due, a creditor should revisit the representations made by the debtor’s agents or employees pertaining to the credit transaction.

Stephen Gebeloff Florida Collection Lawyer

“Aggressively Pursuing Our Clients’ Interests  Tempered by Seasoned Professionalism”

If a creditor is anyway mislead as to the debtor’s creditworthiness, or it can be shown that the officers of the debtor corporation knew or should have known the debtor could not afford the goods or services (equitable insolvency), a creditor may be able to impose personal liability on the officers.Please feel free to contact our collection law firm and speak to our collection attorney about the specific facts surrounding your debt collection case. You  can email your supporting documents to our collection firm. Our Florida collection attorney will review your account and then contact you to devise a  collection strategy for your company.

Stephen B. Gebeloff, P.A.
5255 N. Federal Hwy., 3rd Floor
Boca Raton, FL 33487
(561)953-4600
fax(561)953-4610
[email protected]

 

Stipulation For Settlement in a Florida Collection Case

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Stipulations for Settlement are used in Florida debt collection cases when the debtor cannot commit to pay the full amount due and owing to the creditor in one lump sum payment. The Stipulation sets forth payment terms that are enforced by the Florida Courts. If the debtor makes all installments as agreed, there are no consequences to the debtor. However, if the debtor misses a payment, Judgment is entered for the full amount agreed upon in the Stipulation, less payments previously received and credited to the debtor. Once Judgment is entered post judgment enforcement steps can be taken.

Stephen Gebeloff Florida Colletion Lawyer

Florida Collection Attorney

Please feel free to contact our Florida collection law firm and speak to our Florida collection attorney about the specifics facts surrounding your Florida debt collection case. You may mail or email your supporting documents to our collection firm. Our Florida collection attorney will review your account and then contact you to devise a strategy for your Florida collection matter.

Stephen B. Gebeloff, P.A.
5255 N. Federal Hwy., 3rd Floor
Boca Raton, FL 33487
(561)953-4600
fax(561)953-4610
[email protected]

 

Officer and Director Liabilty in a Florida Collection Case

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OFFICER DIRECTOR LIABILITY

Our collection law firm continually looks for ways to assert personal liability on an officer or director of a corporation (“officer- director liability”) when there are no personal guarantees on the account. One way is to see if the corporation is still active on the Florida Department of State Division of Corporations website. If the corporation has been administratively dissolved, we look for the effective date of the administrative dissolution. If goods and services were provided during the time that the debtor was administratively dissolved, our collection attorney will assert that the officer is personally liable for the debt because the corporation no longer was officially in existence at the time. Recent case law in Florida, however, has indicated that if a corporation reinstates, the reinstatement would absolve the officer from liability.

Stephen Gebeloff Florida Colletion Lawyer

Florida Collection Attorney

Our collection firm does not stop there. There our other ways to assert officer director liability. We assert that the debtor corporation was under capitalized at the time the corporation placed the order for goods or services. Thus, we assert the officers and directors had knowledge of this fact or should have known this fact. A prudent director would not order $100.00 worth of product with only $5.00 dollars in the bank. We state our cause of action in the collection lawsuit as fraud.

Please feel free to contact our Florida collection law firm and speak to our Florida collection lawyer about the specifics facts surrounding your Florida debt collection case. You may mail or email your supporting documents to our collection firm. Our Florida collection attorney will review your account and then contact you to devise a strategy for your Florida collection matter.

Stephen B. Gebeloff, P.A.
5255 N. Federal Hwy., 3rd Floor
Boca Raton, FL 33487
(561)953-4600
fax(561)953-4610
[email protected]

 

 

Welcome Marianella Caldera

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Stephen B. Gebeloff, P.A. is pleased to announce Marianella Caldera will be joining the firm as a Paralegal. Ms. Caldera  received her Juris Doctor in Venezuela in 1995 and will oversee our firms international debt collection matters. Ms. Caldera is fluent in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.

Stephen Gebeloff Florida Colletion Lawyer

Florida Collection Attorney

For further information on how our firm can help you collect your domestic and or international collection  accounts, please feel free to call us at  (888)-345-8677 , (561)953-4600 or email us at [email protected].

 

Debtor Stall Tactics in a Florida Debt Collection Case

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Once a Florida Debt Collection case is filed, the debtor by hiring a Florida lawyer, can stall your debt collection efforts. Time is money not only to Florida creditors but, to Florida debtors as well. A common strategy to stall which is utilized by Florida debtors is to file a motion to dismiss your collection lawsuit. In Florida by filing such a motion, it prevents a Florida collection attorney to indicate to the Judge that the debt collection case is ready to be placed on the trial docket.

Stephen Gebeloff Florida Colletion Lawyer

Florida Collection Attorney

Our Florida collection lawyer must set the debtor’s motion for a hearing. The hearing may take several weeks to get on the Judges calendar. Once the motion to dismiss the debt collection lawsuit is before the Judge, the Judge will either deny the motion or grant the motion allowing the Florida collection lawyer an opportunity to amend the collection lawsuit.

The goal of any collection attorney and collection law firm is to get the collection case before the Judge as quickly as possible. In Florida, our collection law firm cannot set the case on the trial docket until thirty days after the debtor’s counsel files an answer to the collection lawsuit. Thus, by filing motions to dismiss the collection lawsuit, the debtor’s attorney can delay the collection case by weeks and or months before it reaches a Judge.

Before trial in a debt collection case a collection attorney may try to file a motion for summary judgment. But, any material fact or facts that a debtor can bring before the court in a debt collection case will defeat a summary Judgment Motion.

Our debt collection firm’s goal is to advance the case to trial and judgment as quickly as possible. We welcome you to call or email our firm to discuss a debt collection strategy that is just right for you.

 

Florida Collection Case Default Judgment

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Stephen Gebeloff Florida Colletion Lawyer

Florida Collection Attorney

In Florida, once a Florida Collection Law Suit has been filed, the Clerk of Court will assign a case number.  The Clerk will also issue a summons to be served on the Florida Debtor with the collection lawsuit.  The summons will direct the  debtor  to file a responsive pleading to the creditors allegations contained in  the complaint within twenty (20) days. If the debtor does not file a responsive pleading,  our Florida collection attorney will petition the Court to enter Default. If a responsive pleading is filed, litigation with ensue pursuant to the Florida Rules of Court. The Florida litigation process will be examined in future posts.

If Default is entered, our Florida collection law firm will prepare an affidavit for the creditor to fill out and return to our office. The affidavit will indicate how much money is due to the creditor.  Once the affidavit  is returned to our Florida collection lawyer will file a motion to enter default judgment with the Court.  Our  Florida collection law firm will ask the court  for  the costs incurred  by the creditor to file the collection lawsuit and prejudgment interest. In Florida each party is responsible to pay  their own attorney’s fees in a collection case unless there is  a written agreement between the parties allowing the recovery of reasonable attorneys’ fees , the purchase orders and or invoices  allow for the recovery of attorney’s fees or as allowed  by a Florida Statute.

Once Default Judgment is entered in Florida, our Florida Collection Firm and collection lawyer will be able to begin enforcing the Judgment and  attempt to collect your money that is due.  Post Judgment collection techniques in Florida will be discussed in other posts on this site.

There are many things to consider when trying to collect a Judgment in Florida. Please feel free to contact our Florida Collection Firm to discuss your Florida collection cases. After a review of your case, Mr. Gebeloff will devise a collection strategy that is appropriate for you.

Contact Stephen B. Gebeloff, P.A., Collection Law Firm at (561) 953-4600 or email Mr. Gebeloff [email protected] to discuss your Florida debt collection needs.

 

Statute of Limitations and Collecting Your Debt in Florida

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Stephen Gebeloff Florida Colletion Lawyer

Florida Collection Attorney

In Florida when litigation commercial debt collection cases many times our collection law firm must look to see if a debt we are trying to collect violates Florida’s Statute of Limitations. Attempting collection on a debt that is in  violation of The Statute of Limitations, will not be enforceable by the Florida Courts.

To bring a collection law suit on a contract, the breach must have occurred within five years. If the creditor is seeking to enforce an oral contract to collect its debt, the collection lawsuit must be brought within four years. Of course in Florida as in other states there is always the exception to the rule brought on by the Statute of Frauds. For a Florida oral contact to enforceable, the performance of the obligation must be contemplated by the parties to be completed within one year. The application of what constitutes performance under a contract in one year is not always clear in the creditor –debtor relationship.

Please feel free to contact our Florida collection law firm and speak to our Florida collection lawyer about the specifics facts surrounding your Florida debt collection case. You may mail or email your supporting documents to our collection firm. Our Florida collection attorney will review your account and then contact you to devise a strategy for your Florida collection matter.

Stephen B. Gebeloff, P.A.
5255 N. Federal Hwy., 3rd Floor
Boca Raton, FL 33487
(561)953-4600
fax(561)953-4610
[email protected]

 

Creditor Fraud in Florida

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Creditor Fraud in Florida

 

Creditor Fraud. Debt Collection Law FirmAn example of creditor fraud In Florida: if principals of a company who are trying to avoid paying the debts of the company attempt to transfer funds and or open up another company, Florida law allows creditors to bring a third-party action against the officers and the new entity to attempt to recover their money. Many debtors in Florida believe that simply by transfering money to another person and or opening a new business will put their assets out of reach of creditors in Florida.

With a proper motion brought before a Florida Court, the Judge will grant joinder. This means the officers who transferred money and the new entity will be brought into a Florida lawsuit brought to collect money from the original debtor.

Just because a business appears t be closed or administratively dissolved our Florida Collection Law Firm and Collection Attorney will investigate to see if there is a possibility to assert a cause of action for transferring the money.

Call us if you have any questions about successor liability in Florida for transfer of assets. It is easy to place a Florida collection account with our firm. You may mail or email your supporting documents to our collection firm. Our Florida collection attorney will review your account and then contact you to devise a strategy for your Florida collection matter.

Stephen B. Gebeloff, P.A.
5255 N. Federal Hwy., 3rd Floor
Boca Raton, FL 33487
(561)953-4600
fax(561)953-4610
[email protected]