Recovering A Judgment With A Sheriff

Every involuntary judgment collection attempt requires an official civil Sheriff or Marshall. All levies and garnishments require the support of, and the forms and fees for, the Sheriff or Marshall. In this article, Sheriff means either the Sheriff or the Marshall. In some jurisdictions, registered process servers must also be hired.

This article is my opinion, and not legal advice. I am a judgment expert, and am not a lawyer. If you ever need any legal advice or a strategy to use, please contact a lawyer.

To collect a judgment, you must have a copy of your judgment, because only that proves who is the defendant and how much the judgment debtor owes you. You will also need a current and local writ of execution from the court. (Or the equivalent, for example in some states, a department of state issues a statewide judgment lien certificate.) More forms, fees, and instructions are also required, to hire a Sheriff to attempt to levy your judgment debtor's available assets.

When your judgment debtor will not pay you, the good news is the civil Sheriff can attempt to levy and sell their available assets to help satisfy your judgment. The bad news is you must pay all costs, even if the levy fails for any reason. (Sometimes the Sheriff will refund the deposit if an auction sale does not proceed.)

When your judgment debtor's asset targets are bank accounts or wages, no Sheriff auctions are required. If your judgment debtor's property is some other kind of asset, you can pay the Sheriff to seize, advertise, and sell at auction, your judgment debtor's property.

Not every levy attempt succeeds. On bank levies, there may be little or no money in the account, or the account might have recently been closed. On wage levies, there could be another levy ahead of yours, or that outranks yours. On levies that require a Sheriff auction sale, many things can prevent you from being paid, including:

1) The judgment debtor gets or claims an exemption. Only individuals can claim exemptions, because corporations, LLCs, and partnerships usually cannot claim them. People can claim exemption limits for their homes, and depending on which state; perhaps also their wages, bank accounts, personal property, vehicles, and tools used in their business.

Read More : Recovering A Judgment With A Sheriff