What is a confession of Judgement? Confessed Judgements are a powerful tool here in Virginia. They allow a creditor to jump straight to collections and garnishment should you default on your payments to them. This saves them time and money and takes away your right to a day in court should you wish to fight the claim later on. A creditor with a confessed judgment can simply walk into court with the paperwork and walk out soon thereafter with a judgment against you.

How to Make a Confessed Judgment

A Confessed Judgment in Virginia requires three things: Statutory Language, Designated Attorney-in-Fact, and Specific Venue for Confession. Without any one of these three things, your confessed judgment will fail. The statutory language is a warning to those signing the document that what they are signing is waiving their rights. It must be on the top of the contract or promissory note in bold lettering. The designated Attorney-in-Fact is who is allowed to confess the judgment before the court. The person signing is essentially saying “for the purpose of admitting that I owe money, this attorney can represent me.” Only the Attorney-in-fact can confess a judgment so best practice is to list two or three attorneys in the event one is not available. Finally, a confessed judgment must list which Court clerk the judgment can be confessed to, for instance, the court clerk of Fairfax County Circuit Court. This prevents the signee from having a judgment confessed on his behalf in an unknown jurisdiction. Once you have all three elements, you have a proper Confessed Judgment.

Procedure for a Confessed Judgment

Obtaining your judgment from a properly drafted Confessed Judgment is easy. Simply have your attorney in fact bring the original signed and notarized Confessed Judgment to the specified court clerk and confess it. After Confession occurs the confessed judgment must be served on the debtor. It is best practice to serve the debtor in person. After service occurs, the debtor has 21 days to contest the process of confession. This does not allow the debtor to make any substantive arguments about the contract or performance of the contract. It only allows for the debtor to contest the process by arguing that the Confessed Judgment has issues or that the creditor is lying to the court about the amount owed. After 21 days, you will have a judgment that can be enforced in any jurisdiction after recordation. No trial, no pleadings, and no jury. The case is over. That is why the confessed judgment is such a powerful tool in Virginia. If you need to draft a Confessed Judgment in Virginia please find a Civil Law Attorney who can help you if you live near Fairfax, Loudoun, and Arlington and Prince William counties.