Remember in elementary school when you realized that your teacher no longer bought your (clearly well thought out) excuse that your dog ate your homework? Similarly, you can’t rely on Covid-19 to make all of your financial obligations go away.
If you owe money under a Judgment or a settlement agreement for example, you should keep making your payments accordingly. Sitting back, missing payments, and then hoping to use the increasingly popular “Covid excuse” will not cut it.
If you cannot make payments and are in fact significantly impacted by this pandemic, then be proactive and reach out to the other party BEFORE the payment becomes due. The other party may be willing to work with you.
Keep in mind that if you are a payor under a settlement agreement, there’s a good chance that the agreement provides remedies to the other party in the event that you miss payments. You could be required to pay a lot more than you bargained for by missing even one payment!
In light of Covid-19, the Courts are currently trying to figure out how to handle matters such as the defaults discussed above. If you’re a party that is owed money by a defaulting payor, you need to proceed strategically if you want to seek a remedy from the court in this current climate.
But remember, if you’re owed money under an existing agreement, and have not agreed to defer payments, you are entitled to be paid. And if you like, even during the current pandemic, we can help “show you the money!”
We get things done – well, except that one time my dog actually ate my motion materials.
Robin K. Mann, JD, Associate Lawyer