Tag Archives: debt collection

Contact a Collection Attorney and Debt Collection Law Firm

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What to do when your customer owes you money and starts ignoring your demands for payment. You should consider using a debt collection and debt recovery law firm.

Since the economic down turn of 2008,   it is more and more common for a small business to struggle with its cash flow. As a result, businesses are cash strapped and cannot pay all of its vendors each and every month. It is important for creditors to be proactive.

Our   debt collection law firm believes that those creditors that push the hardest, will get paid first ahead of other vendors that our owed money. Our collection attorneys send out collection demand letters. Our debt collection lawyers will contact your customers who owe your company money and try and ascertain if there is a legitimate business reason why your account receivable is not being paid. If there are legitimate reasons, our collection law firm will act as an intermediary and attempt to help both sides come to an amicable solution.

If there are no legitimate business reasons for your customer to not pay on your open account, our collection attorney will most likely recommend that suit be brought. Our collection lawyer will analyze the collection account to see if officers of the company can be held responsible for payment of the corporate debt.

Collection Attorney and Collection Law Firm

Collection Attorney and Collection Law Firm

Contact our collection attorney at our debt collection law firm and speak to our collection lawyers about the specifics facts surrounding your debt collection case. Our collection lawyer will discuss the possibility of pursuing the principals of closely held entities for the debt owed to your company. You may mail or email your supporting documents to our collection firm. Our collection attorney will review your account and then contact you to devise a strategy for your debt 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 Principals of a Closely Held Entity Be Personally Liable for the Debt of the Entity

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Our collection attorneys find time and time again small businesses ignore corporate formalities. At our Florida Collection Law Firm, we investigate to see if corporate formalities have in fact been followed. If not our collection lawyers will seek to pin personal liability for corporate debt on the principals of these entities. The principals of these single member limited liability companies or closely held companies simply take these forms with the illusion, it will shield them from personal liability for the debt these entities incur. This is a mistake.
Our collection lawyers look for commingling of corporate funds with the personal funds of the principals and/ or the use of corporate funds for expenses that our clearly not business related. Good examples are expenses for purchase of movie tickets, repeated charges to restaurants and or charges incurred at Universal Studios or Disney World. One of the biggest mistakes our collection attorneys find is the principals of the debtor entities do not file their annual reports with the department of corporations. This causes the entity to become administratively dissolved.

Collection Attorney and Collection Law Firm

Collection Attorney and Collection Law Firm

Please feel free to contact our collection attorney at our debt collection law firm and speak to our collection lawyers about the specifics facts surrounding your debt collection case. We will discuss the possibility of pursuing the principals of closely held entities for the debt owed to your company. You may mail or email your supporting documents to our collection firm. Our collection attorney will review your account and then contact you to devise a strategy for your debt 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]

Pre-Litigation Debt Collection Stategies

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Upon receipt of a new claim for collection in our office, our collection attorney and debt collection paralegals review your collection case. Initially  our debt collection firm is  trying to determine if the debtor is still a viable entity or perhaps the principals of the corporation or limited liability have opened up a new entity or shifted assets to themselves. Depending on the results of our investigation and appropriate demand letter for payment of your debt is sent.

Stephen Gebeloff Florida Colletion Lawyer

Aggressively Pursuing Our Clients’ Interests

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, 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. . If we are unsuccessful collection our client’s money at this stage, a debt collection strategy is discussed with our collection law clients.

Please feel free to contact our collection attorney at our debt 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]

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE A DEBT COLLECTION CASE TO GET TO TRIAL

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Clients often ask our debt collection lawyers how long it takes to go to trial. In Florida after the defendant is served with a collection lawsuit, the defendant will have twenty days to respond to the complaint. If there is no response to the complaint, our law firm will file a motion to enter default and default judgment by filing an affidavit of proof executed by our client. If the Judge is satisfied with the proofs contained in the affidavit the Court will enter Default Judgment.

Florida Collection Attorney and Collection Law Firm

Florida Collection Attorney and Collection Law Firm

If a debtor retains an attorney to defend the debt collection lawsuit, the complaint can be met with defensive motions attacking the merits of the complaint. Often in a collection law case, these motions are delay tactics to buy the debtor more time. Our law firm wants to schedule these motions quickly on the Court’s motion calendar to get these defensive motions resolved. Once we are able to get past defensive motions, after an answer is filed, the Florida Court Rules allow our collection firm to Notice the case for trial. Once the Court receives the Notice for trial, it will select a trial docket and set forth pre-trial procedures to be followed in terms of discovery and mediation. Most cases in Florida are required to attend mediation prior to trial. Depending on the county, our firm can usually get a contested litigation matter to trial within four to six months.

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 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 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]

 

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.

 

Discovery During the Florida Collection Case

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During litigation in Florida, the Plaintiff and Defendant are able to exchange discovery. This is usually accomplished by utilizing any combination of interrogatories, request for production of documents, request for admissions and or taking depositions. In Florida the opposing party has thirty (30) days to respond to discovery requests. In the Florida debt collection process this is a valuable tool to flush out the defendants defenses if any to your Florida collection case. By using a Florida collection lawyer or Florida collection firm, you can make sure that you have all the documents and information you need from the debtor before going to trial.

If you have any further questions regarding the Florida debt collection process or discovery during the Florida debt collection process, feel free to call or email our collection lawyer to answer your questions.

 

Post Judgment Collection in Florida

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After a Judgment is obtained in Florida there are several different methods to consider to effectively liquidate your judgment. However, as a matter of routine practice a certified copy of the Florida Judgment should be recorded in any Florida county that you believe the debtor may have real property. This will act as a lien against that property. The Judgment should also be recorded with the Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations to secure a judgment lien against the debtor’s personal property.

Our firm will attempt to garnish a debtor’s bank account if that information is available. Surprisingly, many debtors have paid our clients in the past and still use the same bank account. If there is no banking information available, our collection firm will serve a Fact Information Sheet, pursuant to the Florida Rules of Court on the debtor. If the debtor fails to answer the Fact Information Sheet in a timely manner, our law firm can petition the Court to have the debtor appear before the Court and tell the Judge why it has not furnished our firm with the debtor’s financial information. If the debtor fails to appear before the Court, the Judge can order that a Writ of Bodily Attachment be issued. If that occurs, the debtor will be picked up by the Sheriff’s Department and face possible incarceration for failure to comply and appear before the Court.

Our firm may consider other avenues such as bringing in a successor entity or the debtor’s principals for fraudulently transferring its assets to either an insider of the debtor or another closely held entity. We can take a debtor’s post judgment deposition to discover assets. We can also serve a wage garnishment, if we are able to determine a place of employment for the debtor.

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 Post Judgment matter. After a review of your case, Mr. Gebeloff will devise a post judgment 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 post judgment debt collection needs.