Prior to 1833 in the United States, you could in fact go to jail for not paying your debts. “Debtor’s prisons”, as they were called, have since been abolished. Therefore, you cannot go to jail if you default on your debts. There are some creditors that may threaten that they will send an officer out to arrest you but this will not happen. There are however some things that a creditor can do.
A creditor can in fact file a lawsuit against you for the debt that you owe them. If you do not respond or go to any hearings that are set, they will most likely get a judgment against you. If you still fail to pay that debt, they can file what is called a Notice of Right to Have Exemptions Designated. This gives you a chance to declare and hopefully protect your assets. If you were to ignore this or not respond to it correctly, the debtor can file a Writ of Execution. This can either be for the money that you owe or can be for items that were not declared that make up the amount of what you owe them. Usually a sheriff will contact you about coming to collect either the money or the items. But he or she cannot arrest you.
Of course bankruptcy is always an option to putting a stop to a lawsuit. Filing for bankruptcy enacts an automatic stay that puts a freeze on the lawsuit. It is important to know that It is better to deal with the situation rather than to just ignore it. By ignoring the lawsuit you cannot but arrested but you could lose valuable property.
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