What happens if you sue someone who has no money or assets?

Question

Like if you sue a homeless person who has nothing or a really really poor person?

Answer 1

You end up getting nothing

Answer 2

When you sue someone whether or not they have money a judgement is entered if you win. If the person does not have money you probably will not get any. Not meaning that the judge didn't say that you won and should get x amount of dollars. If they have no assests then you can't attach a judgement against anything to secure the amount the judge granted you. If they do have assests but no money you can attach the judgement to the assests. Which means. You sue someone, You win, they have no money but they own a home. You can attach your judgement to their home meaning that when and if they ever sell the home you will get your money. If they never sell it then again what can you do. You can also ask the judge to garnish their wages for the amount of the judgement (if they have a job). If you sue a homeless person you are just wasting your time, and more money. They have no tangible assests that you can attach the judgement to. They are not employeed so you can not garnish their wages.

Answer 3

The most you could get out of a person with no assets in a court is an injunction. If in the case of someone with little liquid assets but they own other assets such as real property, you could get a judgement against them and then turn around and put a lien on their property. The problem with this is that you could be a waiting a loooong time to get the money out of that real property.

Answer 4

If you know someone has nothing going into a lawsuit, why would you spend the time and effort to go forward? If you're successful, a lien would be placed on any future property or assets. But are you really the type of person who would take away more from a person who already has nothing?

Answer 5

Nothing. They recieve a judgement against them. Depending on what they were sue over it will go into collections and onto their credit report Or the persons wages can be garnished This is usually only the province of the IRS or Child Support.

Answer 6

I'm not a lawyer, but basically they would get nothing. They might make you bankrupt, and that would write off the debt. If you have no money, and no income, how can they get anything other than nothing? You can't get blood out of a stone. As for your last points about giving your assets to family, it might work, but I'm sure they've thought of that ruse before... My suggestion is to blow it all on beer and hookers.

Answer 7

Nothing, so long as they remain penniless. Having a judgment against someone who is incapable of paying it is like having a drawer full of Confederate money.

Some states protect some forms of property (in Ky, you can't take somebody's farm as part of a judgment, in Florida you can't take their primary dwelling), but others don't. Either way, once you've drained all their attachable assets, you have to wait around for them to either hit the lottery, or have a rich relative die and leave them something to pay you out of.

Of course, once they come into money, you'll have to petition the court again (cha-ching! for the lawyers) to get the judgment enforced!

Answer 8

If you win the law suit, you get a judgment entered in the court house against that person. You can renew the judgment until the defendant pays up or until you die. If he never acquires any assets, you get nothing.

Answer 9

That's why people sue multinational corporations. They find the organization that has the most money and then sues them.

Answer 10

You may win the lawsuit but all you have is a piece of paper titled "Judgment".