Local Judgment Enforcement

When picking a judgment enforcer (or attorney) to enforce your judgment, it's very important to pick one who is close to the debtor, even better, close to the debtor's available assets.

For the rest of this article, debtor means the debtor's assets, because you can only take what a debtor owns - not the debtor themselves.

Most judgment enforcers charge 50% of what they recover. This is because of the expense and hassle of enforcing judgments legally. When the enforcer is close to the debtor, it vastly increases the likelihood of recovering money from your debtor.

Note that it is not important that a judgment enforcer be close to you. In the old days, judgment enforcers had offices you could walk into. For security and other reasons, most judgment enforcers do not have a walk-up location. Most have a post office box. That is not something to worry about. What counts is their post office box is in the same county as the debtor.

The most important reason for picking a local enforcer, is one has to have permission from a court that is reasonably close (e.g., within 150 miles) and always in the same State as the debtor. Otherwise it takes extra steps, time, and costs to move the judgment to the courthouse closest to the debtor. Sometimes the case number changes when you move a judgment to a new County in a State.

Other reasons include:

1) When a judgment enforcer works in the same court many times, it means they are more familiar with the many styles of judges, rules, and procedures of a particular court.

2) Debtor exams and other court motions and actions become very convenient for the judgment enforcer.

3) The debtor's assets, habits, and situation are easy to determine.

4) Witnesses and third-parties are easy to find.

5) Debtors are often more willing to pay, when they know the odds have been changed, by having a local judgment enforcer next to them.

6) In person court-filings mean no unexplained delays. Filing documents by mail can add months to enforcement procedures.

Too many judgment enforcers take judgments with debtors too far away from them. Except for big judgments, it makes no sense to domesticate (make enforceable in the same State)a judgment unless you are close to the debtor.

When a judgment enforcer takes on a judgment too far away, they cannot work as quickly or effectively as a local judgment enforcer. Make sure the judgment enforcer you pick is local to the debtor - or works near the debtor's location on a regular basis.

Additional articles about Local Judgment Enforcement

About the author

Mark D. Shapiro - Mark@GoGuys.com - Judgment Enforcement Catalyst. V: 888-831-4350, Fax: 206-267-9857. The FAQ is at http://www.JudgmentBuy.com - is updated often with must-read info for everyone involved with Judgments.

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