Judgments are court decisions rendered as a result of civil litigation. When a decision includes a monetary award, it is known as a money judgment. Unfortunately, courts do not enforce money judgments. That is left to judgment creditors to work out. But courts may still get involved depending on the legal remedies a judgment creditor chooses to pursue.
Simply put, a judgment creditor may need further legal action to collect. This is one of the reasons it’s smart to bring in a collection agency like Salt Lake City-based Judgment Collectors. An agency that specializes only in money judgments should be more than capable of handling any further legal action collection might require
5 Types of Legal Actions
Utilizing the legal system to collect is one of the advantages of seeking a money judgment. Standard debt collection doesn’t give creditors access to the same legal tools the judgment creditors have. Here are the more commonly utilized tools and the legal actions they entail:
1. Debtor’s Examination
A debtor’s examination is a court motion compelling the debtor to appear so that he can be questioned about income streams and assets. The debtor must appear either in court or at the office of the creditor’s attorney. The creditor must pay a fee when filing such a motion.
2. Writ of Garnishment
The writ of garnishment is a court order that compels the debtor’s employer to withhold a certain amount of money from each paycheck and forward it to the creditor. A judgment creditor files the garnishment motion. If approved, the local sheriff’s department actually executes the garnishment order.
3. Writ of Execution
A writ of execution is a court order compelling the sheriff to seize targeted assets, sell them, and forward the proceeds to the creditor. Creditors must file for writs of execution with the original court or its domesticated counterpart. They do not have the authority to seize and sell property on their own.
4. Writ of Attachment/Seizure
The writ of attachment/seizure is nearly identical to the writ of execution with one difference: instead of going after the debtor’s assets, the creditor is going after the assets of a third-party who has been demonstrated to have some sort of legal responsibility for the debt.
5. Judgment Lien
A judgment lien is a property lien attached to a debtor’s asset. Creditors do not have to go back to court to get judgment liens, but they do have to file paperwork with the secretary of state or the county recorder. A judgment lien is not in full force until it has been recorded by the appropriate party.
6. Judgment Domestication
Domestication is the process of filing a judgment in a jurisdiction other than that in which the original case was heard. If a creditor wants to go after debtor property located in another county or state, for example, the judgment must be domesticated in that jurisdiction. Domestication usually involves little more than filing the appropriate paperwork.
The Rules Must Be Followed
It should be understood by every creditor attempting DIY collection that the rules must be followed. Regardless of how a creditor chooses to proceed, failing to abide by the rules creates additional legal problems that could ultimately cost more to resolve than the creditor would have spent on hiring a collection agency.
Collection agencies know the rules. They play by the rules or else they risk not getting paid themselves. So in the end, the additional legal work that judgment collection so often requires points creditors to the professionals. Let them handle the job. They will do it right.