What is an Order for Disclosure?

In Minnesota, when a creditor obtains a judgment, they can request that the court send you a form called an Order for Disclosure or OFD. The form asks you where you work, how much you make, where you bank, and other questions about your assets. The idea is to allow the creditor to discover what assets you have available that may allow you to pay the judgment.

But here is the critical part:  you MUST fill out the OFD and return it to the creditor within 10 days. If you don’t, then the creditor can go to a judge and ask the judge to issue a bench warrant for your arrest for failing to fill out and return the OFD.  That’s right, they can haul you to jail for not filling out a form. Some of you may remember that I previously wrote about how you cannot go to jail for not paying your debts. And this is still true. But under Minnesota law, you can go to jail for contempt of court, which is essentially what refusing to fill out an OFD is. So if you get an Order for Disclosure in the mail, make sure you truthfully fill it out and return it. Not every debt collector will seek a bench warrant for failure to return an OFD, but some will and you don’t want to spend time in jail just for failing to fill out a form.

(photo: abardwell)