The following advice is my opinion and not legal advice. If you have questions or are planning any lawsuit, contact an attorney.
I learned that a conviction is not cash. I was shocked to learn that after I paid a lot of lawyers, courts do not care if I was repaid for my Judgement or not. I could not afford to continue to pay lawyers, so I made it a mission to learn how to do my own Judgement Recovery, which led me to enforce the judgments of others.
I learned judgment-related legislation, studied more than 100 books, studying courses and enforced 100s of judgments. To solve the problem of finding good Judgement enforcers nationwide, I started and manage a successful Dom referral business, it helps everyone with the exception of debtors.
Over a decade or so, I heard many stories, and so what happened before and after people had their sentences. I am a mortal and not a lawyer, it's just my advice. These are just some tips that I wish I had read before I sued someone and tried to enforce my first sentence. Here is my Judgement Recovery Tips List:
1) Before you try to sue someone, try and settle with them. If you pay to get a conviction, and pay again to get it enforced, you are not getting the full amount you have lost or are guilty. You are often better off by settling first. Try and find out. Be nice and do not lose your temper. It is good advice in life and the next topic:
2) Research your debtor. Make sure that they really are who they say they are. Incredibly, sometimes people lie. Find all Also known as (Ahaz) of the debtor. If Bill Jones ripped you off, find out if his name is also William Alfred-Alfonzo Jones. Try and find out how old (birth date is best) they are, where they live, work (ed) their SS number, phones, everything you can before you sue them. When you sue them (or lose my temper) it will cost more and be harder to get this kind of info.
Search your local court or their websites. Is this person already has a lot of lawsuits against them? Are they dirt poor? If yes, maybe just drop it all. If they go bankrupt, it's over. (Unless you pay a lawyer to contest the discharge of your Judgement in bankruptcy that sometimes works.)
3) Include all you can at the trial. (And every AKA you know.) As an example, you bought a fence from ABC, Inc, and in mild weather, the fence fell over a week later because they did not use concrete to set fence posts, which they wrote in their proposal. They refuse to fix it or refund you, so you decide to sue them.
If ABC, Inc. contacted you about a new fence in the mail, and then sells Barney Google convinced you to buy it, and Mortimer Sneed installed it, try to sue all three. You will have a better chance of a settlement or collection if you include all parties. It is difficult and expensive to add defendants later. Sometimes the court will not let you keep all the defendants you must first include. If you were deceived, perhaps contain words that the "complaint" papers that you want done to a conviction.
Always use a registered process or a sheriff. Has a sheriff or a Registered Process Server personally serve them. If your debtor can not be served, why bother plaintiff them? Spending on professional process serving can be added to the conviction amounts. A professional process server can sometimes be those who try and evade service.
5) A standard Court (where the debtor does not show up) is sometimes a hollow victory. Many debtors do not worry about default judgments. This is because the common sense definition of default does not apply in civil courts. Most of the time when you default, you lose. In civil court a standard is often an extra chance for a debtor to avoid payment of an appeal.
If you or a ruling enforces take their assets, they care much. If proof of service was not perfect, they may try to get the court to quash. If successful on a proposal to vacate, you lose the appeal, and must start over with a new trial. Proof of service is very important.
6) You can not win the trial, sometimes justice is not done. If it is over, it is over, learn from it and move on. Win a ruling does not mean you will be paid. You will be entitled to interest on what you owe, but you will be able to collect it? Judgments are only good for a number of years unless renewed. Property values down, and it is hard to tame judgments if the debtor moves.
7) Anything can happen. The debtor can pay you immediately. It does not happen as often as it should. They may go bankrupt. They may complain, they might make a motion to vacate. There are other legal tricks they can play. They may say they will pay or settle, but do not. Sometimes logic plays any role. Some times can a debtor would rather pay, or end up paying double the money to prevent your appeal, as they would have spent by just paying you.
8) You can try and assemble it yourself, and can spend lots of time and money trying to get your money back. This often results in "throwing good money after bad". Or you can pay for a lawyer. Or find a mortal (non-lawyer) experienced Dom enforces do all the work and use the money to recover your money.
9) If you hire a lawyer who often did you pay for an hour, even if you do not get a penny of your money back. If you assign (turn, sells, sign over, give up ownership of) your Judgement to enforce a conviction, you have to pay about half or what they collect on your money. It seems like a lot but it is fair to consider how much time, effort, money, and study it takes, and all the things that can go wrong. When a ruling enforcing succeed, it costs the debtor much more than if they paid you in the first place.
10) In this economy, it may take a very long time to get money. As mentioned in tip 1, the settlement is best, but it rarely works out. Debtors often do not pay after offering to settle.
In summary, the choice of Judgement Recovery of money from a debtor:
A) Successful satisfied with the debtor.
B) enforce judgments himself.
C) Hire a lawyer.
D) Find a Court to enforce - it is the most popular choice as Judgement enforcers have made a career out of this situation as a result of legislation in the country. An order enforcing maximizes the chances of a successful Judgement Recovery.
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