How do I collect a court judgement of $1900 from dead beat tenents?

Answer 1

Collection of money judgments is often frustrating. It is also extremely variable from state to state. For a small judgment like this, it will be doubly hard because not many lawyers will get excited about such a small matter.

Basically, though, you can serve the tenants with subpoenas to disclose their assets. They will ignore the subpoenas. To enforce the subpoena requires citing them for contempt of court, which will set you back a minimum of $5000.

There's the problem.

If I held a small judgment, I would, first, issue a writ of execution to the sheriff, who would simply sit on it for 60 days and then return it unsatisfied. I go through this exercise in order to be able to deduct the loss on my tax return: the execution must be issued and returned unsatisfied before you can legally deduct the bad debt.

Then I would go to the Yellow Pages, pick a collection agency (pretty much at random) and turn the judgment over to them to collect. And I would regard anything I got as found money.

This all assumes that the judgment is not for past-due rent and coupled to a writ of eviction/warrant of possession that you use to put the tenants in the street, because that is a far superior technique for collecting the rent. But if the tenant has already fled the coop, I don't think I would waste my time trying to collect a small judgment like this.

Answer 2

Collecting a judgment varies from state to state.

Some states allow garnishments of wages. Others do not. You will need to check with an attorney in your state, (or the clerk of your court) to determine if wage garnishments are allowed under your state law.

Some states also allow you to garnish bank accounts. In that event, if you know where the debtor banks, you can levy a garnishment on their bank account. Again, your court clerk probably has forms that you can use to do this.

If you aren't able to garnish, for whatever reason, then you will need to apply to the court for an Order to Appear for Examination in Aid of Execution. This means that the sheriff will serve the order on the debtor, and he/she will have to appear before the court on a specific date and you will have the opportunity to ask them questions about their employment, bank accounts, and other assets.

You might want to check with an attorney to determine what assets are exempt from garnishment/seizure in your state. For a referral, contact your local or state bar association.

Answer 3

If you already have a judgement then you need to write a demand letter. In this letter, you will demand payment of the judgement award. Send it CERTIFIED(RRR) and wait the required 30 days (or whatever your jurisdiction requires).

If the debt is not satisfied by the time limit, then you need to return to court and file a petition for a judgement lien. That's when you get to play detective. You will need to find any and all property the debtor owns and have the lien attached.

Since you did not mention in what country or state you reside or where the judgement was issued, that's all anyone can tell you.

Answer 4

File an action for execution of the judgment so that the money claims will be given to the party that won.

Answer 5

back to court. get an order for garnishment.

Answer 6

The best approach might be to garnish their wages.