Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Small Claims Judgment Recovery

After you are awarded a judgment in court, you have to collect the money owed to you. You may have to use several methods of collection if the defendant is not willing to pay voluntarily.

Arrangements

    Contact the debtor and make mutually agreed upon payment arrangements. Establish the amount of the payments and the date the payments will start. Sometimes this is all that is needed.

Considerations

    If a defendant will not pay willingly, you will need to go back to the court that awarded the judgment and receive a writ of execution. You will need to fill out an application or other paperwork. The court will assign a sheriff to complete the process.

Significance

    When a writ of execution is completed, you will be able to levy or garnish the defendant's bank account. This is the process of freezing their bank account. The money in the account will be turned over to the court and then issued to you for payment of the debt.

Features

    A writ of execution also allows you to garnish the wages of the defendant. This can be done if he is not self-employed. The amount garnished is usually 25 percent of the weekly disposable income.

Benefits

    If you do not know where the debtor works or have any of her bank account information, you can request an oral examination. The defendant will be required to attend a court hearing and divulge information about her income and assets.

Warning

    The small claims judgment recovery process varies from state to state. You may have to wait 10 to 30 days after the judgement before you take any action. This will give the defendant a chance to appeal the judgment.

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