If someone sues you and you don’t show up to court, the judge will almost certainly enter a default judgment against you. The plaintiff wins by forfeit and gets what the complaint asked for, and from that point on they have the power to garnish your wages, freeze your bank accounts, and put liens on your property. The debt also grows with interest until it’s paid. You can sometimes get the judgment undone, but the clock starts the moment it’s entered.
What a Default Judgment Actually Is
A default judgment is the court’s way of saying you were notified, you did nothing, and the other side wins. It carries the same legal force as a judgment handed down after a full trial. The judge still looks at whether the complaint states a valid claim and whether the money or other relief the plaintiff wants makes sense, but you aren’t there to challenge the plaintiff’s version of events, point out weak spots in their case, or push for a settlement. The court hears one side and rules on that alone.1Legal Information Institute (Cornell Law School). Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 55
Once that judgment is on the books, you are now a judgment debtor and the plaintiff is a judgment creditor. In most states, that status lasts 10 to 20 years, and the creditor can usually renew it before it expires.
How the Plaintiff Collects From You
A judgment on paper is only the start. The creditor has several tools to actually get paid, and more than one can run at the same time.
Wage Garnishment
With a court order served on your employer, the creditor can take money straight out of your paycheck. Your employer is legally required to withhold the amount set by the order every pay period until the judgment is satisfied. Federal law caps the garnishment at the lesser of 25% of your disposable earnings or the amount by which your weekly disposable earnings exceed $217.50, which is 30 times the federal minimum wage of $7.25.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1673 – Restriction on Garnishment If your weekly disposable income is $217.50 or less, ordinary creditors can’t garnish anything.3U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 30 – Wage Garnishment Protections of the Consumer Credit Protection Act Some states give you more protection than that; none can give you less.
Bank Account Levies
A levy lets the creditor seize money sitting in your bank account. The creditor gets a writ of execution, the bank freezes the account on receipt, and funds get turned over to satisfy the judgment. You can lose access to your money before you even know this is happening.
Some federal benefits are automatically shielded. Social Security, SSI, veterans’ benefits, federal railroad retirement, civil service retirement, and federal employee retirement payments all have legal protection. When those payments arrive by direct deposit, the bank is required to review the account and keep at least two months’ worth of protected benefits accessible to you.4National Credit Union Administration. Garnishment of Accounts Containing Federal Benefit Payments State law may protect other income too. If protected funds get frozen anyway, you can file a claim of exemption with the court to get them released.
Property Liens
Once the creditor records the judgment with the right government office, a lien attaches to your property, typically real estate. You can’t sell or refinance without paying the judgment off, because the lien shows up in any title search. Judgment liens on real property under federal law last 20 years and can be renewed for another 20.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 3201 – Judgment Liens State durations commonly run 5 to 20 years, most with renewal available. In some situations, a creditor can force a sale of the property through foreclosure to collect.
Debtor’s Examinations
This is the tool most people don’t see coming. After getting a judgment, the creditor can ask the court to order you to appear and answer questions under oath about your finances: your bank accounts, your employer, what you own, where it is. Ignoring that order is far more serious than missing the original lawsuit, because you’re now defying a direct court command. The court can hold you in contempt and, in some jurisdictions, issue a body attachment, which is essentially a civil arrest warrant to force you to show up.
The Debt Keeps Growing
A default judgment isn’t a fixed number. Interest accrues on it from the day it’s entered. In federal court, the rate is tied to the weekly average one-year Treasury yield.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1961 – Interest State rates are often much higher. Many states set a flat statutory rate of 10%, and some reach 12% or more. On a $15,000 judgment at 10%, that’s $1,500 a year added to the balance. People who ignore a judgment for several years often find the amount owed has grown by half or more.
When You Can Actually Be Jailed
A widespread fear is that skipping a civil lawsuit will get you arrested for contempt. In most civil cases, that isn’t how it works. If someone sues you for money and you don’t show up, the court enters a default judgment. It doesn’t send police to your door.7United States Department of Justice Archives. 754 – Criminal Versus Civil Contempt
The jail risk shows up later, during enforcement. If a court orders you to appear for a debtor’s examination and you ignore it, or orders you to turn over specific assets and you refuse, you’re in contempt territory. Civil contempt sanctions, including fines or jail, run until you comply. The stakes jump sharply once you start ignoring court orders rather than just the original complaint.
What a Judgment Does to Your Finances Beyond the Debt
Civil judgments no longer appear on credit reports. The three nationwide credit bureaus removed them in July 2017 under the National Consumer Assistance Plan, and bankruptcies are now the only public record type still reported.8Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A New Retrospective on the Removal of Public Records
That doesn’t make a judgment invisible. It’s still a public court record. Anyone running a background check or searching courthouse records can find it. Employers in finance, government, and other trust-sensitive fields often check court records directly, separate from credit reports. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires employers to notify you and get written consent before pulling a consumer report, but the public record itself remains discoverable.9Federal Trade Commission. What Employment Background Screening Companies Need to Know About the Fair Credit Reporting Act
The practical damage often outweighs anything a credit report would do. A lien kills your ability to sell or refinance. Garnished wages shrink every paycheck. A frozen bank account disrupts rent, utilities, and auto-pay bills. Active enforcement cuts into your life in ways a line on a credit report never did.
How to Get the Judgment Undone
If a default judgment has already been entered, move fast. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b) lets a court set aside a default judgment on several grounds, and state courts have parallel rules.10Legal Information Institute (Cornell Law School). Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 60 – Relief from a Judgment or Order
- Excusable neglect or mistake. You had a legitimate reason for not responding, such as a medical emergency or a genuine error. The motion must be filed within one year of the judgment.
- Fraud or misconduct by the plaintiff. The plaintiff misled the court or acted deceptively. Also subject to the one-year deadline.
- Void judgment for improper service. If you were never properly served with the lawsuit, the judgment may be void. This is the strongest ground, because void judgments can be challenged at any time, with no one-year cutoff; you only have to act within a reasonable time.
- Judgment satisfied or other equitable reasons. The debt has been paid, the basis of the judgment has changed, or some other compelling reason justifies relief.
To file a motion to vacate, you’ll need to explain why you didn’t respond and show that you have a viable defense to the underlying lawsuit. Courts are reluctant to reopen a case if the outcome won’t change. Evidence helps: medical records if you were incapacitated, proof the service address was wrong, documents that undercut the plaintiff’s claims. Start by getting a copy of your case file from the court clerk and reading the affidavit of service closely. That affidavit is the document in which the process server swears how and when the lawsuit papers were delivered, and errors in it are the single most common basis for vacating a default judgment.
Call the court clerk early to confirm the local filing requirements. If you can afford it, hire an attorney at this stage. The motion to vacate is usually your last realistic chance to fight the case on its merits. If the court grants it, the default judgment is wiped out and the case restarts, giving you the opening to answer the complaint and present your side.