How to Vacate a Default Judgment Without a Lawyer (California, Texas, and West Virginia)

Savage Lex Team · 2026-08-06

A default judgment is not the end of your case. You can undo it by filing a motion in the same court that entered it, asking the judge to set it aside. California calls this a motion to vacate under Code of Civil Procedure section 473, Texas calls it a Motion to Set Aside Default Judgment, and West Virginia handles it under Rules 55(c) and 60(b) of its Rules of Civil Procedure.

The catch is the clock. Texas gives you 30 days in most courts, and only 14 in justice court. California gives you six months on the most common ground. West Virginia gives you one year for neglect-based grounds. Those deadlines run from when the judgment was entered or signed, not from when you found out about it, with narrow exceptions. If you just discovered a judgment against you, figure out which window you're in before anything else.

What a default judgment is and why it bites

When you get sued and don't answer in time, or miss a hearing you were told about, the court can hand the other side a win without ever hearing your side. That's a default judgment. It carries the same force as a judgment after trial, which means the winner can use it to go after your bank account, your wages where state law allows garnishment, or a lien on your property.

Every state has a procedure for undoing one, and courts generally prefer deciding cases on the merits over letting them end on a missed deadline. But the relief is discretionary in most situations, and the paperwork has to be right.

California: section 473(b), plus longer windows if you never knew about the case

California's main tool is CCP section 473(b). The court can relieve you from a judgment taken against you through your "mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect." You have to move within a reasonable time, and never more than six months after the judgment was entered.

One requirement trips people up constantly: the motion must include a copy of the answer or other pleading you propose to file. The statute says flatly that without it, the application "shall not be granted." Draft your answer first, attach it, then file the motion.

If you never actually learned about the lawsuit in time to defend it, CCP section 473.5 gives you longer. The motion must be filed within a reasonable time, but no later than the earlier of two years after the default judgment was entered or 180 days after someone served you written notice that the default was entered. You'll need a sworn affidavit showing the lack of notice wasn't caused by you dodging service or inexcusable neglect, plus your proposed answer.

If you were never properly served at all, the judgment may be void, which is a separate attack under section 473(d). In 2024, the California Supreme Court held that a 473(d) motion to vacate a judgment void for improper service is not bound by the two-year limit lower courts had been applying. If service is your issue, pull the proof of service from the court file and read it closely.

Texas: 30 days. Yes, thirty.

Texas is rough on timing. In district and county court, you must file your Motion to Set Aside Default Judgment within 30 days of the date the judge signed the judgment, under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 329(b). If your case is in justice court, where most debt collection lawsuits now land, the deadline is 14 days under Rule 505.3.

Two timing exceptions matter:

Late notice. If you first learned about the judgment more than 20 days after it was signed, your 30-day window starts on the date you got notice or actually found out, whichever came first. But the window can never start later than 90 days after signing, so the absolute outer limit is 120 days (Rule 306a(4)). You have to prove the date you learned about it with a sworn motion.
Service by publication. If you were served only by publication, you have two years to ask for a new trial under Rule 329.

On the merits, Texas Law Help lays out two paths. You show you were never properly served or didn't get proper notice of the hearing. Or you show your failure to answer was an accident or mistake rather than intentional or conscious indifference, that you have a meritorious defense, and that a new trial won't unfairly delay or harm the other side. Texas Law Help also publishes free fill-in forms: the Motion to Set Aside Default Judgment, Notice of Hearing, and a proposed Order for the judge to sign.

If the deadline has passed and the court's power over the judgment has expired, the remaining route is a bill of review (Rule 329(f)), which is harder to win. At that point, talk to a lawyer or legal aid before spending more time on it yourself.

West Virginia: Rule 60(b), with a year for the common grounds

West Virginia's Rule 55(c) lets the court set aside an entry of default for good cause, and set aside a default judgment under Rule 60(b). The grounds include:

Mistake, inadvertence, surprise, excusable neglect, or unavoidable cause
Newly discovered evidence
Fraud, misrepresentation, or misconduct by the other side
The judgment is void
The judgment has been satisfied or released
Any other reason justifying relief

For grounds 1 through 3, the motion must be filed no more than one year after the judgment was entered, and in all cases within a reasonable time. A void judgment, usually because you were never properly served, is not subject to that one-year limit. The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals confirmed both points in Amoruso v. Commerce and Industry Insurance Co. (2019).

When deciding whether to grant relief, West Virginia courts weigh four factors from Parsons v. Consolidated Gas Supply Corp.: how much your delay prejudiced the other side, whether you have material facts and a meritorious defense, how significant the stakes are, and how deliberate your default was. Notice what that list tells you about strategy: come to the hearing with your defense organized, not just an excuse.

Deadlines side by side

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Steps that look the same in all three states

Pull the judgment and the proof of service from the clerk. You need the exact date the judgment was signed or entered, and you need to see how you were supposedly served. This decides which ground and which deadline apply.
Pick your ground honestly. Never got notice? Say that, with dates. Missed a deadline because of a hospital stay or a real mix-up? Lay out the specific facts. Vague "I didn't mean to" arguments lose.
Draft your proposed answer or defense now. California requires it attached to the motion. Texas and West Virginia both want to see you have a meritorious defense.
File the motion plus a notice of hearing, and serve the other side the way your court's rules require. Ask the clerk about filing fees and fee waivers if money is tight.
Show up to your hearing with proof. Sworn declarations, mail records, medical documents, whatever supports your timeline. In Texas, you must prove your late-discovery date by sworn motion.
If the judge grants it, file your answer by the deadline the court gives you. Getting defaulted twice is entirely avoidable and entirely common.

Mistakes that kill these motions

Waiting is the big one. The clocks mostly run from entry or signing, not from discovery, and the exceptions for late discovery are narrow and require proof. Filing without the required attachments, especially the proposed answer in California, gets you denied on technical grounds. Arguing facts without evidence gets you denied on the merits. And missing the hearing you set on your own motion to vacate is as bad as it sounds.

Also know what winning actually means. Vacating a default judgment doesn't make the lawsuit disappear. It puts the case back where it was before the default, and you still have to answer and defend.

FAQ

Does vacating the judgment wipe out the debt or claim?

No. It revives the case so both sides get heard. The underlying claim is still there.

Can I really do this without a lawyer?

Yes. These are among the most pro se-friendly motions in civil procedure, and Texas publishes free forms for exactly this. If your deadline has already passed, the remaining options get technical fast, and a legal aid consult costs nothing.

What does it cost to file?

Fees vary by state, court, and county. If you can't pay, ask the clerk for a fee waiver application.

What if the judgment is already being collected?

File the motion quickly and ask the court about pausing enforcement while the motion is pending. Don't assume filing the motion automatically stops garnishment; in most places it doesn't until a judge orders it.

Sources

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General legal information, not legal advice. Rules vary by jurisdiction and can change.