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As this blog site grows there are more and more articles for you to read.  In order to make it easier for you to navigate this site, we are including this list of links to all of the various blog posts found here.  We hope you quickly find the exact information that you are interested in discovering.

  1. Judgment Debtors – Who Is Your Judgment Against?
  2. Yes you can collect your own judgment.
  3. Who is your judgment against? 2nd article
  4. Organizing to Collect Your Judgment
  5. Post Judgment Discovery
  6. Interrogatories Help Collect Your Judgment
  7. Using your local law library
  8. State Statutes
  9. Request for Production of Documents and Things
  10. What is Judgment Settlement?
  11. How to Collect My Judgment: Short Outline
  12. Document Preparation in Judgment Collection
  13. Why Judgment Settlement?
  14. How to Collect My Judgment Using Lien on Property
  15. Using a Bank Levy to Collect My Judgment
  16. Collecting My Judgment Using Wage Garnishment
  17. How to Enforce My Judgment using Diplomacy
  18. What Is Execution of My Judgment?
  19. Collecting Your Judgment Can Be a Game
  20. Enforcing a Judgment from a Community Property State
  21. How to Collect My Judgment and More!
  22. Who can enforce my judgment?
  23. Judgment Enforcement: Judgment Creditor’s 10 Biggest Sources of Anger
  24. Foreclosure on Judgment Debtor’s Real Estate
  25. Why Your Judgment Debtor Won’t Pay You
  26. My Judgment
  27. Judgment Attorney – Help Collecting Judgments?
  28. How to Pressure Judgment Debtor to Accept Settlement
  29. Tremendous Source of Info on Judgment Debtor
  30. Judgment Bankruptcy, Judgment Collection Roadblock
  31. How to Enforce a Criminal Restitution Award
  32. Vacating Judgment Can Help You Collect Your Judgment
  33. Judgment Investigation – Where to Focus
  34. My Lawyer Won’t Collect My Judgment
  35. Superiority of Judgment Lien
  36. Discovering Place of Employment for Garnishing Wages
  37. Outsourcing Possibilities With Judgment Collecting
  38. Judgment Investigation and My First Trash Search
  39. State Garnishment Laws: Alabama, Alaska, and Arkansas
  40. Judgment Statute of Limitations
  41. State Garnishment Laws: Arizona, California, and Colorado
  42. Locate Debtor to Collect Judgment
  43. Collecting from Multiple Judgment Debtors on the Same Judgment
  44. State Garnishment Laws: Connecticut, Delaware, and the District of Columbia
  45. How to Collect a Judgment After the Judgment Debtor Dies
  46. State Garnishment Laws: Florida, Georgia, and Hawaii
  47. Judgment Investigation, and Best Information Source
  48. Bank Levy – Avoid This Inexcusable Blunder
  49. State Garnishment Laws: Idaho, Illinois, and Indiana
  50. Post Judgment Settlement Agreement – Be Firm!
  51. Pay Judgment or Else!
  52. State Garnishment Laws: Iowa, Kansas, and Kentucky
  53. Judgment Bankruptcy and Debtor Fraud
  54. Judgment Bankruptcy and Identifying Debtor Fraud
  55. State Garnishment Laws:  Louisiana, Maine, and Maryland
  56. Judgment, Bankruptcy, and Concealed Debtor Assets
  57. Judgment, Bankruptcy, and Multiple Filings
  58. State Garnishment Laws:  Massachusetts, Michigan, and Minnesota
  59. Federal Bankruptcy Fraud Statutes
  60. Collect from Judgment Debtor’s Business
  61. State Garnishment Laws:  Mississippi, Missouri, and Montana
  62. State Garnishment Laws:  Nebraska, Nevada, and New Hampshire
  63. Bank Garnishment: Safety Deposit Boxes
  64. Restitution Order Exempt from Bankruptcy
  65. State Garnishment Laws: New Jersey, New Mexico, and New York
  66. State Garnishment Laws: North Carolina, North Dakota, and Ohio
  67. State Garnishment Laws: Oklahoma, Oregon, and Pennsylvania
  68. Judgment Proof or Execution Proof
  69. State Garnishment Laws:  Rhode Island, South Carolina, and South Dakota
  70. Don’t Encourage the Judgment Debtor to Appeal
  71. State Garnishment Laws: Tennessee, Texas, and Utah
  72. What I Expect from a Judgment Debtor
  73. State Garnishment Laws: Vermont, Virginia, and Washington
  74. State Garnishment Laws: West Virgina, Wisconsin, and Wyoming
  75. State Garnishment Laws:  Links
  76. Small Claims Judgement:  Collection Advantage
  77. Nothing Plus Nothing Equals (?)
  78. Judgment Enforcement:  Timeliness Is Critical
  79. Beware:  Post-Judgment Exemption Laws
  80. 5 Keys to Judgment Collection Success
  81. Back in the Judgment Enforcement Saddle
  82. What Your Judgment Debtor Doesn’t Want You to Know
  83. What If I Collect My Judgment?
  84. Locate a Judgment Debtor Who Moved
  85. SSDI:  Discover Death of Judgment Debtor
  86. Fraud Judgment Is Advantageous Over Other Judgments
  87. How FDCPA Affects Collecting a Judgment
  88. What Is a Foreign Judgment?
  89. Domestication of Foreign Judgments or Sister State Judgments
  90. Motion to Compel Post Judgment Discovery
  91. Motion for Contempt Post Judgment Discovery
  92. Default Judgment – What’s That?
  93. Thoughts on Collecting Default Judgments
  94. Affidavit of Financial Hardship in Judgment Enforcement
  95. Lack of Proper Service:  Greatest Challenge to Default Judgments
  96. Absolute Easiest Judgment Enforcement Tactic
  97. Can’t Locate Debtor to Collect Judgment
  98. Post Judgment Payment Agreement
  99. Judgment Money – Where to Collect
  100. Judgment Payment Agreement, Best Types of Funds
  101. Garnishment Definitions for Judgment Enforcer
  102. Drivers License Suspension for Unsatisfied Judgment
  103. Collect Judgment Court Costs
  104. Professional License Suspension for Unpaid Judgment
  105. Court Accommodations for Disabled Judgment Creditors
  106. How I Collected Uncollectible Judgment
  107. Judgments and Our Bad Economy
  108. Garnishee Fails to Pay
  109. What Is a Levy?
  110. What Is a Sheriff’s Sale?
  111. Judgment Collection Success Story: Susan’s Trailer
  112. Statute of Limitations and Judgment Renewal
  113. Domesticate Foreign State Wage Garnishment?
  114. Intellectual Property As Executable Asset
  115. Garnishing Non-employee Earnings Where Employee Wages Are Exempt
  116. Charlotte’s Judgment Lien After Bankruptcy
  117. Judgment Enforcement:  Finish the Drill
  118. Post Judgment Attachment
  119. Your Judgment Debtor’s Achille’s Heel
  120. Garnishment of Reverse Mortgages
  121. Hide and Seek: Judgment Enforcement
  122. Post Judgment Investigation:  Voter Registration
  123. Is a Trust Attachable in Judgment Enforcement?
  124. What Is a Writ of Fieri Facias?
  125. Granny’s Money Judgment Disappointments

We wish you success in collecting ALL of your judgment money!

Admin

Granny’s Money Judgment Disappointments

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This post is a story about a grandmother who won a lawsuit in court but failed to collect the money that the judge ordered.  This story describes the problems which are related to Granny’s money judgment disappointments.

It is hoped that by sharing this story, we can encourage others to take steps which will help them avoid the bad fortune and disappointments that Granny experienced while hoping to collect her judgment money.  We hope you will follow a wise and thoughtful judgment enforcement path that will yield you a much more satisfying result than the one she had.

Granny is a 72 year old widow who lives alone.  She and her late husband George only had one child, a son James, who has lived all of his adult life across the country.  James has his own life to live and rarely gets back home to visit.  Granny has pretty much been on her own since her husband’s death 20 years ago.  She has very limited financial resources.  She does the best that she can to get by and make ends meet for herself and her 2 cats.

About 12 years ago Granny was having some serious issues with water leaks in the roof of her small 1 bedroom house.  She didn’t have a lot of money to get it fixed.  She earned a little bit of extra income doing some housekeeping work at a fast food restaurant nearby.  One day she overheard a conversation between a couple of men who were eating at the restaurant.  Without eavesdropping on the conversation Granny could tell that they were discussing a home repair that one of the two men was about to do for the other gentleman.  At an opportune moment, Granny casually introduced herself to the men.  She let them know that she wasn’t trying to be nosey, but that she had heard enough of their conversation to tell that one of them did home repairs.

The men were friendly and courteous to her.  She casually mentioned that she was in need of some roof repairs at her house.  The contractor handed Granny his business card and invited her to contact him if she wanted to talk to him about getting her repair work done.  She thanked him politely and moved on with her work.

A few days later Granny contacted the repairman, Andy.  They made an appointment for him to stop by and look at her roofing problems.  This led to them agreeing that he would come back and fix the leaks.

When all was said and done, he came and did a little something up on the roof.  Granny paid him the $850 that he said the job would cost.  The man left and never came back.  A couple of day later it rained and the roof leaks were as bad as before the alleged repair had been performed.

When repeated attempts to persuade the Andy to come back and correct the problems failed to get any cooperation, Granny went to the courthouse and filed a small claims suit against him.

On the day of the hearing, Andy failed to show up.  Granny won her case and a default judgment was obtained.  The judgment awarded Granny the entire $850 she paid for the work.  She also was due to be paid for costs.  Her entire judgment was for over $1100.

Granny assumed that since she had won a legal judgment then Andy would have to pay her that amount and pay it promptly.  Boy was she heartbroken and surprised to discover otherwise.  Andy never paid a dime to Granny.  She sent several letters to him demanding payment, but all her writing was in vain.  At one point, granny made a trip to the Clerk of Court’s Office to see if they could help her collect.  No, they could not.  Nor could they give her any legal  advice.

Later, Granny went to visit an attorney that a friend recommended.  He listened politely to her story, but was not interested in pursuing such a small debt.  He recommended another lawyer that he thought might be willing to help.  Granny went to see her.  She was not a specialist in collecting judgments.  She did make some feeble attempts at collecting Granny’s judgment money.  She sent the debtor another demand letter which he ignored just like the previous letters that Granny had sent.

After a decade passed, Granny’s judgment expired.  She never did collect a single cent from Andy.  Once the judgment expired, there was no hope of ever enforcing the money award.  Granny was left high and dry.

When Granny looked back at the whole situation, she had sadly lost the money that Andy cheated her out of, and she had worried and fretted herself to death for ten years trying unsuccessfully to collect her judgment.  All of the experience trying to obtain justice had been a huge waste of time, money, and energy.

The saddest part is that while Andy was evading or simply ignoring Granny for all those years, he continued to cheat other people the same way he cheated Granny.

If Granny had known how to collect her money judgment, it would have saved her a lot of pain and heartache.  If Granny had access to information like what is provided on this blog site, she likely would have enjoyed a much happier outcome.  I wish Granny knew what the readers of this blog have  come to know.  There are indeed legal ways to force a judgment debtor to pay a money judgment.  One has to become aware of the lawful methods of judgment collection, and then apply that knowledge to their particular situation.

I hope none of us finds ourselves in Granny’s shoes.  Let’s all be persistent and go after the judgment money that we deserve.

“Justice for All”

Here’s a link to judgment collection stories that have a happier ending than Granny had.

Bryan

Here is a link to the page listing all of our judgment enforcement articles.

What Is a Writ of Fieri Facias?

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Recently a new reader of this blog asked, “what is a Writ of Fieri Facias?”  Though I am not an attorney, I will attempt to provide an answer for my new friend.

A Fieri Facias is a writ that exists in certain of these United States, but not all.  This writ is used by a judgment creditor to collect on a debt or monetary damages awarded by a court.  A Fieri Facias is often spoken of by its abbreviated form which is a Fi Fa.  A Writ of Fi Fa, when issued, instructs a Sheriff or other appropriate enforcing authority to attach or levy from the goods, chattels, and sometimes real estate as needed for the payment of a judgment debt.

Basically a Fi Fa is a Writ of Execution, an order of the court which makes it possible for a judgment creditor to get paid out of certain assets owned by the judgment debtor.

If I own a judgment in a state where a writ of fieri facias is used, then it behooves me to become familiar with the applicable laws and rules of court which apply in my case.  Sometimes there is a different legal term used to mean essentially the same thing.  A writ of  execution in one state may apply in one jurisdiction while a writ of fi fa is the appropriate term in another state.  It is necessary to know and use the correct term that is used where my judgment is being enforced.

If I can use a writ of fi fa, then I need to discover what my debtor’s assets are.  Then I need to seek to get my judgment paid from those assets.

Good luck to both of us in collecting our money.

Bryan

Click here to go to our listing of articles and links to them.

Is a Trust Attachable In Judgment Enforcement?

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This is a good question posed to me by a judgment creditor.  “Is a trust attachable in judgment enforcement?”  My friend, Mike, wanted to know.  He won a money judgment in civil court.  He had become aware that his judgment debtor had a significant amount of money being held in a trust.  Mike wanted to know if he could legally access the funds in the trust so that he could receive payment of his judgment.

The answer to Mike’s question is likely of interest to many other judgment creditors.  To tell you the truth, I suspect that most people have no idea whether or not a trust can be tapped to pay off a money award.  The correct answer is maybe.

There are several factors which determine the answer as it relates to any particular trust.  The factors can vary by state and jurisdiction.  The first thing is to realise that the laws, and rules of procedure that apply to a trust and judgment execution are not the same from state to state.  Make it a point to thoroughly investigate the applicable rules and statutes.

You can access the statutes of all 50 states at this link.

Another basic item to consider is that there are many types of trusts.  Some may be attached and others not.  Generally for a trust to be seized for payment of a judgment, it must be a revocable trust in which the judgment debtor has a beneficial interest.  By the same token, an irrevocable trust probably cannot be seized.

If a judgment debtor’s assets are moved into a trust under circumstances that can be ruled a fraudulent transfer, then the court may allow those assets to be seized no matter what kind of trust is involved.

Sometimes it can be difficult to determine for sure whether your judgment debtor is truly a beneficiary of a particular trust.  Public records of some trusts will only list the person who is the trustee while keeping the beneficiary anonymous.  It may be possible in those cases to get a court order or subpoena in order to have the actual beneficiary unmasked.  If the trustee and beneficiary want to fight it out in court then they may make it legally more difficult to discover the beneficiary.  However that certainly does not mean they will ultimately succeed in hiding the identify of the person having a beneficial interest.

Of the various reasons to create a trust, one of them would be to make it more difficult for anyone to reach the assets of the trust.

Can trust assets be reached by execution of a money judgment?  It does happen.  Sometimes, it is simple to accomplish.  Other times it can be difficult or impossible.

One would be wise to invest a little time and money with a well qualified attorney who has previously succeeded in attaching trust assets to help wade through the complexities of the subject.

I would encourage my friend Mike or anyone with a judgment to consider the possibilities of seizing judgment debtor assets held in a trust.  It might be the best source of debtor money which could pay the judgment debt.

In your post judgment asset investigation don’t fail to uncover any trusts.  Good luck.

Bryan

Click here to find links to all of our articles on collecting judgments.

 

Post Judgment Investigation: Voter Registration

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In pursuing the collection of a money judgment it is vital to conduct a thorough post judgment investigation.  Voter registration records can be quite helpful in answering some of a judgment creditor’s questions.  Post judgment investigation of a judgment debtor and his assets can be facilitated by simply accessing the debtor’s voter registration records.

Voter registration records may be obtained online in many areas of the United States.  I find that when it is practical to personally go to the office of the voter registrar (or whatever agency is the keeper of these records) the information I seek can be easier to access.  Due to ever increasing efforts to protect personal privacy in this country, it is not always as easy to gain online access as it is in person.

Frequently I find that an online search of this information will require me to provide personal identifiers of my judgment debtor that I may not yet have uncovered.  For example, many online searches will require me to provide the person’s

  • name,
  • date of birth,
  • social security number (sometimes one only needs a redacted social),
  • driver’s license number (sometimes redacted), or
  • residential address, or the like.

If the reason I am looking for this info is to secure the same data that I need to access the records in the first place, then I am out of luck.

Fortunately all online voter records searches do not require such an extensive amount of information from me as some other online searches.

If the online records search only requires that I provide the name and address or only the name and date of birth, I may already have enough information to gain access to the debtor’s voter records.  Bingo!

The types of information available from voter id records varies by state or jurisdiction.  Typically the information that can be gleaned may include

  • my debtor’s complete legal name,
  • maiden or former name,
  • telephone number,
  • work telephone number,
  • driver’s license number,
  • state identification number,
  • social security number,
  • place of birth,
  • current home address,
  • current mailing address,
  • address where the person was last previously registered to vote,
  • race or ethnicity,
  • and gender.

Some of the data may be redacted.

I prefer to go to the Board of Registrars Office in person when seeking voter records.  I take with me a record of my court judgment as well as adequate personal identification of myself.  My experience is that I can usually gain access to the voter registration record by personally requesting it.  The manner in which I present myself and my request goes far in gaining the cooperation of the staff at the Registrar’s Office.

If necessary, a person seeking access to these records could fork over the necessary fees to issue a subpoena for these records.  That is rarely necessary.  But I wouldn’t hesitate to mention a subpoena to an uncooperative clerk if it helped me gain access  to the records I am seeking.

Remember, what I want to see is the actual voter registration form that my debtor filled out.  Sometimes a single bit of critical information can be uncovered from a voter registration form that will make a world of difference in the success of a post judgment investigation.

Happy hunting, my friend!

Bryan

Here is a page listing links to all of our articles on judgment collection.

 

Hide and Seek: Judgment Enforcement

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Hide and Seek is a fun game for kids.  What do “hide and seek” and judgment enforcement have to do with each other?

I have a couple of granddaughters ages 2 and 4.  When they come over to the house they love to play hide and seek with me.  We take turns hiding and also take turns being the seeker.  It is a ton of fun for all of us.  I wouldn’t take a million dollars for the experiences I have getting to play this game with my precious girls.  They love to play the game with me as much as I enjoy playing it with them.

When it comes to judgment enforcement, there are elements that remind me very much of playing hide and seek.  Enforcing judgments can be a ton of fun as well.

In judgment enforcing we judgment creditors are obviously the seekers, and our judgment debtors are the hiders.  Stubborn debtors frequently are bound and determined not to be found.  They can be real tough nuts to crack when it comes to trying to discover their whereabouts.  I have figured out that some debtors have pretty much made a living out of being difficult to locate.  They don’t want to be found, and they do everything in their power to cover their tracks.  It can be quite an experience of hide and seek trying to find out where they live or hang out, and where they work.

The really crafty judgment debtors make every attempt to not only be hard to find, they also do everything imaginable to make their assets and income sources hard to find.  Many sneaky debtors go to extremes in hiding assets.  It is quite common for many of them to illegally hide assets.  They engage in everything from fraudulent transfers to many other forms of deception in order to shield their money and executable assets from their creditors and the court.  It can make my post judgment investigation a bit more difficult as I seek to find who and what is hidden.

When we have judgment obligors who go to such great lengths to hide themselves or their valuable stuff, it can frustrate us to no end.  The best way that I have found to encourage myself while dealing with these situations is to make the job of locating my debtor and his assets into a game of hide and seek.  Rather than letting my adversary put me in a state of depression, I determine in my own mind to have fun while pursuing my goal.  I treat it all like a game.

Make no mistake about it, I am determined to win the game.  I intend to collect all of the judgment debt that is owed to me.  But, I have no intention of letting a judgment debtor’s guile and trickery control my emotions.  Life is too short.  I will play the hide and seek game with my debtor if that is the direction he chooses.   I will not quit till the game is over.  As I said, I am determined to win the game!

Here is a link to an article I wrote back in 2010 about how I treat the judgment enforcement process as a game.  I think you’ll enjoy it.

Wishing you the best in your seeking the one who is hiding from you and the assets he is attempting to hide.

Bryan

Click here to see a list of all the other judgment collection articles on this site.

Garnishment of Reverse Mortgages

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If a judgment debtor is at least 62 years old and is a home owner, he or she may have taken out a reverse mortgage on his own home.  If so, is it possible for a judgment creditor to successfully execute a garnishment of the reverse mortgage payments?  The best answer to this question is “Maybe.”

You may be tired of hearing this, but the fact is that it all depends on which court jurisdiction is applicable to your judgment enforcement.  As we have said so many times, the statutes and rules of procedure vary from state to state and in some cases by federal jurisdiction.  What is possible in New Hampshire, for example, may not be allowed in New Mexico.  One has to look at the statutes, rules, and case law.

A reverse mortgage is based on a contract where the property owner grants a mortgage to a lender.  The lender pays to the mortgagor either a lump sum payment or a series of payments.  The borrower is not obligated to pay the loan back during his lifetime.  The bank agrees that if the loan is not repaid earlier, then the loan can be repaid by the sale of the property after the death of the borrower.

It is not unusual for a senior citizen to enter into a reverse mortgage agreement where he will receive a monthly payment stream for the remainder of his life.  This stream of payments or cash flow may prove to be very tempting to a judgment creditor that is determined to collect his judgment money.

A garnishment is a post judgment remedy for collecting a judgment.  In garnishment, a creditor is able to reach a judgment debtor’s assets while they are in the hands of a third party.  Common examples would be a wage garnishment where the 3rd party is the employer of the judgment debtor, or a bank garnishment where the bank is the party holding assets due to the debtor.  Garnishing a reverse mortgage would probably best be described as a form of bank levy or bank garnishment.

If we are able to successfully garnish the reverse mortgage payment stream from the bank or lender, we may establish a long term cash flow for ourselves.  The funds that we garnish could possibly pay off the entire judgment debt due to us.  At the very least it could put a good dent in it.

In some situations a borrower will get all of the money from his reverse mortgage in a single lump sum.  In these cases, there could be a bigger payday for a judgment creditor who successfully garnishes that money.

As far as we have been able to discover, garnishing a reverse mortgage seems to be a rare occurrence.  It appears that it may not be a realistic option as a judgment collection tool in some jurisdictions.  We would venture to say that even among experienced judgment lawyers or collection attorneys, there are not many of them that have ventured into the area of garnishing reverse mortgage payments.  However, that does not mean that it is not doable.  If the possibility of implementing garnishment procedures to attach or seize reverse mortgage money interests you, then we recommend that you thoroughly review the law, and jurisdictional rules of procedure which apply.  We also feel that a close inspection of the actual reverse mortgage contract would be in order.  In any case, consulting with a well qualified attorney would be advisable.

You should be able to find out whether your judgment obligor has taken out a reverse mortgage by checking the records filed at the recorders office or probate office in the county where his home is located.  Also, don’t neglect to check the records in any other county where he may have a second home.

Don’t leave any stone unturned in your quest to discover how to collect from your judgment debtor.

Bryan

Other informative articles about collecting judgments can be found at this link.

Your Judgment Debtor’s Achilles’ Heel

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It is often said that everyone has an Achilles’ heel.  I have found that whenever I can identify my judgment debtor’s Achilles’ heel it makes it much easier to collect my judgment money.

What I find to be a debtor’s weakness often turns out to be that thing that he has super strong emotions and passions about.  There are times when this passion turns out to be associated with some asset that he possesses.  For example, let’s say my debtor is a fanatic about baseball cards, that could turn out to be his Achilles’ heel.  Another debtor might be crazy about an old Model A Ford that he keeps in the garage.  For somebody else it might be a collection of jewelry handed down from a favorite aunt.

Most everyone has that something that they place an inordinate value upon.  His Achille’s heel is that thing that is worth far more to the owner than the actual monetary value of the asset.

His stuff for which he feels a huge emotional attachment can easily be used to get the judgment debtor to cooperate in paying the judgment debt.  By taking advantage of his weakness, a creditor can get paid more of the judgment money quicker and with less hassle.  I’ll give some examples so that you can see what I mean.

We find out that Debtor John is absolutely in love with the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team.  He is nuts about them.  We also know that John has a Lakers basketball jersey which is personally autographed by Kobe Bryant.  John also possesses an official NBA basketball that has the signatures of the entire team on it.

By exercising a Writ of Execution we are able to have the basketball and jersey taken by the sheriff and made put up for public auction at a sheriff’s sale.  The truth is that Debtor John might be able to claim these items as exempt from execution.  However, whether or not an exemption claim holds up, John will feel the strong pressure we have put upon him to pay us, because he fears the potential loss of items that he just about worships.  John will quickly realise that we are going to play hardball and that we fully intend on collecting every cent he owes us.  It doesn’t necessarily matter whether or not  the amount that John owes us is significantly more than the monetary value of his favorite asset that we have taken.  You can bet the farm on the fact that we have thoroughly gotten Debtor John’s undivided attention.  Debtor John probably doesn’t sleep as well at night since he knows we are coming after the assets that he loves the most.

Another example might be where we discover that Deadbeat Dan has a small collection of World War I military medals which were inherited from his Great Grandfather.  Dan is looked upon by other family members as the custodian of a family treasure.  Dan and all of his relatives take enormous pride in the medals won by Dan’s Great Grandfather who was a genuinely decorated hero in battle.  We elect to go after the medals.

You can see where Deadbeat Dan and his entire family will could be freaking out about the actual or potential loss of the medals.  Dan could easily feel extreme pressure to pay off his judgment debt so that the family will not be deprived of Great Grandfather’s military decorations.

The most common response of debtor’s in this kind of situation is to pay the judgment debt, not every time, but more often than not.  Where the debtor has extreme passion, fanaticism, or sentimental feelings about something, that thing becomes his Achilles’ heel.  It opens up the debtor to great possibilities of being pressured to pay the judgment.  The result is that we get paid.

When we engage in our post judgment asset investigation, we not only look to uncover all assets of our debtor.  We also seek to discover which of those assets hold particular personal value to the debtor that we can exploit.

Some judgment debtors will stonewall judgment creditors and show absolutely no willingness to cooperate.  If we identify their Achilles’ heels and reach out and touch them, we can frequently gain the responses we need from our debtors.  We get paid!

There are times when it is obvious what asset is a debtor’s Achilles’ heel.  Other times it takes a little digging to find out.  People who know our debtor well can shed the necessary light on this.  We make it a point to talk to enough people in our investigation that we find out these things.

It works for us.  See what your debtor values most and go after those things.  Then see if indeed you too get paid.

Bryan

There are more tremendous articles to be found on this site.  Click here to see a list of them.

 

Post Judgment Attachment

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Post judgment attachment is a legal term which refers to the lawful seizure of a judgment debtor’s money or property for the purpose of ensuring the satisfaction of a money judgment.

In some states the term “attachment” is used exclusively in the realm of pre-judgment seizures.  However this article is only covering attachment as a post judgment remedy.  Some states do not commonly refer to post judgment attachment by that term.  In my own state the term “levy” is the more commonly term used instead of post judgment attachment.

When money or property owned or due to a judgment debtor is being held or controlled by a third party, the post judgment attachment or seizure of the asset is frequently denoted as a “garnishment.”  The term attachment sometimes is used to refer to the seizure of property that is in the hands of the judgment debtor himself.

In whatever way the word attachment is used, it is the seizing of money or property that is at the root of the word’s meaning.

Whenever a court issues an order requiring attachment, the actual court order is usually known as a “Writ of Attachment.”  The writ is the order that instructs the sheriff or other proper authority to take control and custody of the judgment debtor’s property.  Attachment not only removes the asset from the judgment debtor physically, it also removes the debtor’s right to transfer, sell, or use the property.

Post judgment attachment of judgment debtor assets will work to get the debtor’s attention regarding the judgment debt.  For one thing the process of post judgment attachment and execution can liquidate the seized assets so that the judgment creditor can get paid.  In addition, attachment and execution of assets may come as a surprise to the debtor.  Even if the attachment and execution doesn’t yield enough money to completely satisfy the judgment debt, it may shake up a lethargic judgment debtor enough to where he gets serious about paying off the judgment.

Some form of post judgment attachment is almost always the primary means by which a judgment debt gets satisfied.  Very few judgments debts get paid without the judgment creditor having to apply the post judgment remedy of attachment.

Let’s go forward and seize, freeze, levy, garnish, attach and execute till we extract every cent we are due from our obligors.

Bryan

Click here to see links to all of our articles about collecting our judgment money.

 

Judgment Enforcement: Finish the Drill

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Mark Richt is the current head football coach at the University of Georgia.  One of the many things Coach Richt is noted for is his teaching his team the philosophy of finishing the drill.  I think this is a fantastic lesson for football players.  It is also a tremendous attitude to possess for a judgment enforcer.

At the end of the 2012 collegiate football season, the Georgia Bulldogs lost a heart breaker to the Crimson Tide of Alabama in the Southeastern Conference championship game.  Going into the game it was a foregone conclusion that the winner would qualify to play against Notre Dame in the BCS Championship game.  As the clock ran out on Georgia with the ball 5 yards short of a game winning touchdown, Alabama won the game and did  indeed go on to play the Fighting Irish for the national championship.

Georgia came up a little short against the Tide and the emotional let down for the Bulldogs was easily understood.  As Georgia settled for an invitation to a lesser status game in the Capital One Bowl, the emotional disappointment of missing out on the BCS Championship game would be a huge hurdle to overcome.  How could Coach Richt’s team adequately prepare for a consolation game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Orlando?

Never fear, because the Georgia Dawgs were well trained in the importance of “finishing the drill.”  Georgia was somehow able to put the discouraging experience of the SEC championship game behind them.  They manned up and got themselves mentally and physically ready to face Nebraska.  The Dogs showed up to play and impressively defeated their opponent.  They finished the drill.  They didn’t quit until the bowl game was over.

Though they could have rolled over and played dead, they didn’t.  Congratulations to Coach Richt’s boys.  They showed what they were made of.  They displayed the character that their coach instilled in them.

There are many judgment creditors who have faced adversity and defeat in their attempts to collect their judgments.  When it seems unusually difficult to get any money out of a deadbeat judgment debtor, it takes character to persevere.  It takes determination to “finish the drill.”

Don’t quit.  Finish the drill.  You deserve to collect all of your judgment money.  Your family and loved ones deserve it also.  Don’t quit.  Finish the drill.

Bryan

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Charlotte’s Judgment Lien After Bankruptcy

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Here is an interesting story about the experience of a judgment creditor by the name of Charlotte, and what happened regarding Charlotte’s judgment lien after bankruptcy.

Charlotte was taken to the cleaners by a shady character named Bob.  Bob cheated her out of several thousands of dollars in a real estate deal a few years ago.  When Charlotte woke up and smelled the baloney she decided to bring a civil suit against Bob.  In the course of events Charlotte ultimately won her court case.  Charlotte took her Certificate of Judgment to the county Judge of Probate and filed it which created a judgment lien on Bob’s house in the same county.

Click here to see a previous article about judgment liens on real estate property.

Bob never paid any money on the judgment debt he owed her.  A couple of years after winning her lawsuit, Charlotte received notice that Bob had filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy protection.  Due to the bankruptcy, her lawyer informed her that she could not attempt any collection activities on the judgment debt.  Later she found out her judgment had been discharged in Bob’s bankruptcy.  This meant that Bob was forever free from the judgment debt that had existed.

Charlotte was naturally disheartened to find out that Bob would get off the hook for the thousands of dollars that he had scammed from her.  But, she couldn’t do anything to change the facts of the judgment being discharged in bankruptcy.

This seemed to both Charlotte and Bob as the end of the story.  Charlotte and Bob had no further contact with each other at anytime after the bankruptcy.  She figured it was in her best interest to just forget about her loss and get on with her life.  She didn’t waste any time crying over spilled milk.

Three more years went by after the bankruptcy.  One day out of the blue, Charlotte received a phone call from Sharon.  Charlotte didn’t know who Sharon was.  Sharon informed Charlotte that she was considering purchasing a home in the county.  This particular home was the one Bob owned and where he had resided for over ten years.  In preparing for financing, Sharon’s bank uncovered the fact that a judgment lien had been recorded against the property a few years prior.  Charlotte confirmed to Sharon that this indeed had happened.  Sharon had been advised by her bank that Charlotte’s judgment against Bob had been wiped out in bankruptcy, but that the judgment lien on the property might still be viable.

Charlotte was flabbergasted.  She quickly contacted her attorney.  She told him everything that Sharon had said about the prospective sale of Bob’s house and the situation about the judgment lien.  Charlotte’s attorney did some quick research and came up with the fact that the bankruptcy court never actually ordered that the judgment lien on Bob’s real estate was being discharged.  The judgment was discharged, but not the lien.

To make a long story short, Sharon did go through with the purchase of Bob’s house.  At the real estate closing, a check was issued to Charlotte for almost $11,000 to clear up the title issues caused by her judgment lien.  Charlotte was ecstatic.  She finally received justice for the loss she had experienced at the hands of Bob five years prior.

Charlotte was fortunate.  She assumed that there was no chance to ever get any money from Bob once his bankruptcy occurred.  She didn’t know her lien survived the bankruptcy.  It is wise for any judgment creditor to do further research when one’s judgment debtor goes through bankruptcy.  If the court doesn’t specifically order that the judgment lien be extinguished, it well may survive.  We need to remember that just because a judgment has been discharged does not automatically mean that the judgment lien on property has been discharged.

Ah, hope springs eternal in the judgment creditor’s breast.

Don’t hesitate to consult a good judgment attorney or bankruptcy attorney to gain further clarification on this subject and to obtain professional advice.

Bryan

Click here to go to our complete list of articles on collecting a money judgment.