Who Can Collect Your Judgment?
I am a judgment referral expert, and not an attorney. My articles are my opinions, and is not legal advice. When you ever want legal advice or a strategy to use, you should contact an attorney. As a judgment referral expert, I am often asked "Who can recover my judgment?" Everyone does not have the legal authority or ability to enforce a judgment. You don't want to risk letting someone attempt to purchase or recover your judgment if they are not qualified or permitted to do so.
In most jurisdictions, judgments can be sold to, and recovered by, everyone that says they are a judgment enforcer or a judgment buyer. In some jurisdictions, only a lawyer or a collection agency may recover a judgment for someone else. If someone wants to purchase or recover your judgment, make certain doing so is permitted in your state. Who might recover your judgment? Your options are lawyers, collection agencies, judgment assignees, or yourself.
If an attorney recovers your judgment, that's legal in all states. Lawyers will require you to sign a retainer agreement, and then will try to collect the judgment for you, on your behalf, and you keep the judgment in your name.
If your judgment debtor has lots of assets and your judgment is large, it is easy to find a contingency lawyer, and most charge about 1/3 of what they collect. In some states, even when you hire a contingency attorney, you still have to pay all court-related costs.
If your judgment debtor does not seem to have assets, it can be difficult to find a contingency collection lawyer, and if you do find one, they will most likely charge half of whatever they recover.
Most often, when a judgment does not look easy to collect, lawyers will require you to pay all the expenses, and pay by the hour, to attempt to enforce your judgment. For average judgments, most attorneys require that you pay them a retainer, all costs, and then by the hour, usually ranging from $125 to $475 per hour. In all judgment recovery actions and expenses, including paying an attorney, there are no refunds even when no money gets collected.
When a collection agency enforces your judgment, that's is legal in nearly all jurisdictions. Collection agencies will require you to sign their agreement, and then attempt to collect a judgment on your behalf, and you retain ownership of your judgment. Most collection agencies have few recovery strategies they may legally use to attempt to collect judgments. Collection agencies are often known for only writing letters, calling, and warning about putting a judgment on a judgment debtor's credit report. Most collection agencies don't successfully collect judgments.
If a judgment assignee (known as a judgment enforcer) tries to recover a judgment they purchased from you, that's legal in most jurisdictions. Most often, judgment assignees charge you no money from your pocket, and pay you when any of the debtor's money is recovered. With typical judgments, usually you get paid an average of 50% of what's enforced, after it's collected. Sometimes judgment enforcers buy a judgment for cash upfront (outright) for a small percentage of your judgment's original value.
When you assign your judgment to a judgment enforcer, you don't own the judgment any more. You no longer have any claim about if or how your judgment will be enforced, as you have outsourced and sold the judgment. It is important to pick a judgment enforcer carefully, a referred enforcer or buyer is usually best. Some original judgment creditors complain if judgment enforcers get no results, however usually the reason they are slow is that a judgment debtor has no assets showing. Judgment enforcers only get paid for success.
If you try to recover a judgment on your own, that's legal in almost all jurisdictions. You spend all the time and money and do all the work. When you succeed, you can keep whatever is left after the expenses. The bad part of recovering a judgment by yourself is, you must spend and study with no guarantee of success, and learn a lot about something you may not ever repeat again. The good part is, if you get tired of spending money or frustrated; as long as your judgment is still valid, you can then decide to choose a judgment enforcer to attempt to recover your judgment.
About the Author
http://www.JudgmentBuy.com - Judgment Enforcement. The free, easiest, fastest, and best chance to recover your judgment money. Mark D. Shapiro, the judgment matchmaker. JudgmentBuy has the best free judgment referral leads for enforcers, judgment buyers, and contingency collection attorneys.
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