Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Tennessee

Re: Trying to collect on a 16 year old debt.

The first thing for you to do at this time is to immediately write a letter to the credit agency requesting verification of the debt under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. This request must be in writing - do not do it over the phone. The collection agency is then required by law to send verification of the validity of the debt. This may give you some information you are missing. Your question does not state what kind of debt you are asking about (ie, contract, open account, deficiency); however, I can tell you that the statute of limitations for an open account or contract in Tennessee is six years. If the debt was after repossession and sale of the collateral, the statute of limitations is four years. Are you sure that there was never a judgment entered against your mother for this debt? If there is a judgment, the "life" of a judgment in Tennessee is ten years, but the judgment can be renewed before the ten years are up. Therefore, if a judgment was entered against your mother that she was unaware of, possibly that is what the collection agency could be attempting to collect. It does not make any difference that the collection agency is located in another state, the law to be applied is the law of the state where your mother resides unless she signed a contract that states something different.

As far as the bankruptcy information is concerned, you should still be able to obtain information on your mother's bankruptcy from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court archives. You can obtain an application to request the information from the clerk of the court where your mother's bankruptcy was filed. It takes several weeks to receive the information and there is a fee for the service. The clerk's office will be able to instruct you on the procedure. Of course if this debt was discharged under the bankruptcy, it makes no difference what statute of limitations would apply -- the debt is null and void and cannot be collected.