How To Make A Funds Judgment

Posted in: Business Online,income,internet business,judgments,Money Judgment

Most think that when they have won a judgment the court will make definite the judgment is paid - but the shocking truth is: the court won't enforce your judgment. The responsibility to make the debtor pay sits squarely on your shoulders.

Chances are, if you have been awarded a civil judgment in court, you are also of thousands of frustrated judgment holders that have yet to see a dime. You are definitely not alone... roughly 80% of judgment holders have never been paid.

The nice news is that the judgment is valid & enforceable for an average of ten years, & it is renewable in most states. Better still is the fact that interest accrues on judgments, so if it is a couple of years elderly it is worth considerably more today than it was the day it was awarded.

Our court method provides lots of powerful cures to collect judgments from reluctant debtors... Regrettably, unless you know where the debtor's assets can be found & how to make use of the court method to initiate those procedures, you are out of luck.

Before you'll be able to make the judgment debtor pay up, you'll require to locate him/her & his/her assets. This is referred to in the judgment recovery industry as "skip tracing."

The first step in the method is building a profile of your debtor. You'll be wanting to make definite that all of your details are correct from the beginning; like the spelling of the debtor's name, the last known address, the social security number & date of birth of the subject (if available). This way you'll have correct information when it is time to act through the court method. I could write a complete editorial on skip tracing - & I probably will, soon - but for now I'll say that in order to seize anything, you require to know what & where it is.

Some basic asset information may already be known to you... such as where the debtor is employed, or if the debtor owns a home or business. If the debtor has ever written a check to you, the information about the debtor's bank account will probably be available from the bank where you deposited the check. If this information is not available, you can also outsource the work to an asset inquiry company for a nominal fee.

One time the assets have been located there's several legal procedures at your disposal. In most states asset seizures are initiated by issuing a writ of execution (or writ of garnishment or fieri facias) from the court, and providing that writ along with specific instructions to the county sheriff's civil department, who acts as your levying officer and carries out your directions.

There are other legal discovery procedures in your toolbox, as well. As a judgment holder you can legally compel the debtor - or someone else with knowledge of the debtor's assets - to appear in court to answer your questions about finances and assets. In addition to the debtor examination, you can use a subpoena to demand specific types of documents like bank statements, employer check stubs, deeds, etc. You may even ask the judge to instruct the debtor to turn out his/her pockets and surrender any funds or valuables they may be carrying. This is a powerful, yet often under utilized enforcement device!

If you have determined where the debtor works, in most states you can initiate a garnishment of wages. A wage garnishment orders the debtor's employer to withhold usually 25% of their disposable income every time the debtor gets paid, and send it to you.

Another common collection process is the bank account garnishment. In case you know where the debtor banks, you can have a garnishment served there. One time the garnishment is received, the funds in the account is frozen - nothing goes in, and no withdrawals are allowed. Anything that was in the account at the time the garnishment was served is turned over to you.

I ought to note here, that not all assets are subject to seizure to satisfy civil judgments. These are called "exemptions" and usually include infant support, welfare, disability, social security and retirement income. Also, it would irresponsible of me if I didn't acknowledge that not all judgments are enforceable. The adage "blood from a turnip" comes to mind, so it is only fair to let you know that only about 50% - 60% of judgments are actually collectable. But all-in-all, in case you find non-exempt assets then there is a great chance you'll be able to enforce your judgment.

Other potential assets include business income and equipment, rental property income, under the table income, actual property (houses, lots, etc.), personal property (automobiles, heirlooms, recreational vehicles, boats - even livestock!). In case you discover that someone owes funds to your debtor, you can also intercept that to satisfy your judgment. It pays - literally - to look beyond the norm when thinking about what assets you can seize to satisfy your judgment.

10:36 PM  cempaka100   1 comment