Served small claims by sheriff no knowledge of debt

[Realhelp1]

This evening I was served small claims paperwork by a sheriff at my house. I had no prior knowledge or received any warning or correspondence of the supposed debt. The debt is from our doctor who is about a block down the street. My family sees them regularly so it's odd us owning money was never mentioned while there. The paperwork received doesn't have any date to return the paperwork by and it also says we have to reply electronically via Iowa Efile. I find it odd as my wife checks the account online fairly regularly and also said she has no knowledge of the debt.

The strange thing is I am the executor of my mom's estate and she owed this healthcare company money and we very recently settled out of court. About a month later I get a summons from the same company that they are taking me to small claims court.

My question is should call the company directly and ask for proof or a statement to at least know where the charges even came from? Should I be contacting an attorney because a part of me feels this is in retaliation to my involvement as executor of my mom's estate? Thank you for any advise.

 

[LdiJ]

This evening I was served small claims paperwork by a sheriff at my house. I had no prior knowledge or received any warning or correspondence of the supposed debt. The debt is from our doctor who is about a block down the street. My family sees them regularly so it's odd us owning money was never mentioned while there. The paperwork received doesn't have any date to return the paperwork by and it also says we have to reply electronically via Iowa Efile. I find it odd as my wife checks the account online fairly regularly and also said she has no knowledge of the debt.

The strange thing is I am the executor of my mom's estate and she owed this healthcare company money and we very recently settled out of court. About a month later I get a summons from the same company that they are taking me to small claims court.

My question is should call the company directly and ask for proof or a statement to at least know where the charges even came from? Should I be contacting an attorney because a part of me feels this is in retaliation to my involvement as executor of my mom's estate? Thank you for any advise.

You need to show up for small claims court and make the argument to the judge that it is not your debt as you have never been informed by the doctor that you had any outstanding balance, you had never been approached by the collections people stating that you owed any money and that the first you knew of the alleged debt was the small claims court case being served to you.

You can also call the company and ask for proof of the debt. However, even if they provide you no proof or admit they cannot prove it you still need to show up for court, because otherwise you risk losing by default.

 

[Taxing Matters]

My question is should call the company directly and ask for proof or a statement to at least know where the charges even came from? Should I be contacting an attorney because a part of me feels this is in retaliation to my involvement as executor of my mom's estate? Thank you for any advise.

I suggest you call the company or call the lawyer that is representing it and ask for the information about exactly what debt this is. You need to know that information and the worst thing that can happen is that they don’t give you a satisfactory answer. They might just give you enough information to determine if the claim is good or not and then you can deal with the claim from there.

 

[adjusterjack]

My question is should call the company directly and ask for proof or a statement to at least know where the charges even came from? Should I be contacting an attorney because a part of me feels this is in retaliation to my involvement as executor of my mom's estate? Thank you for any advise.

I agree that it's a good idea to contact the company and try to find out what's happening and see if it can be resolved.

However, you still have to respond to the summons and complaint.

The Iowa court website provides instructions and forms for that purpose.

http://www.iowacourts.gov/Court_Rules__Forms/Small_Claims_Forms/

The answer form appears rather simple. You have the option of just denying the claim. The court will advise you of the hearing date.

Meantime you would be wise to study up on the small claims rules and procedures.

Here's the statute:

http://law.justia.com/codes/iowa/2016/title-xv/chapter-631/

And the Iowa Rules of Civil Procedure:

https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/ACO/CR/LINC/04-28-2017.chapter.1.pdf