Interrogatories Help Collect Your Judgment

I am not a lawyer, I am the nation's only judgment broker. This article is my opinion, and is not legal advice, based on my experiences in California. If you ever want legal advice or a strategy to use, please contact a lawyer.

Usually, judgment debtors disregard a judge's order to pay you. If a creditor asks them to pay the judgment, most judgment debtors will lie in an attempt avoid paying judgments. If one bases your judgment enforcement decisions and actions only on hearing and believing the debtor, the judgment will not be recovered.

Being poor, or being sneaky and hiding assets, are very common methods of not pay a judgment. Usually, the judgment debtor does possess some financial assets, enough to settle, or pay at least some of your judgment, at least with a repayment plan, if not with a lump payment.

One way of attempting to learn the reality concerning your debtor and their assets, is to use a legal tool known as an "Interrogatory". If used as a post-judgment recovery activity, an interrogatory is a list of questions served on a debtor, which they are (at least theoretically) required to respond to truthfully and completely. Your debtor will be subject to a firm time limit, in which they need to answer your inquiries, and return your interrogatories answered completely.

With interrogatories, almost everything depends on which state and/or which court. In some states, post judgment interrogatories are not used; and are often replaced by (e.g.) judgment debtor exams. If interrogatories are not allowed and/or appropriate in your local court or state, then the rest of this article may not apply to your judgment.

Interrogatories can be used to discover facts concerning your judgment debtor or their finances, which they hoped you could never discover. You can ask questions about their employment and income, bank accounts, real estate, stocks and bonds, and almost anything else concerning their potential financials that you would want to know.

Each state and court may have different numbers of questions which you can have, and has different requirements on the way they must get served on the debtor or 3rd parties related to them. The time limits for a parties served to answer, may vary by jurisdiction.

If your served party is not honest in their answers to interrogatories, or fails to comply with the court's orders, or if they lie when answering your questions, the judge might take punitive action against them. They could get charged with contempt of court.

Interrogatories are sometimes a fantastic method of gaining the upper hand, over a judgment debtor who is reluctant to disclose the truth concerning their ability to satisfy your money judgment. If the law allows, and the court backs you up, it's good to know that the debtor cannot really afford anything except full compliance and truthful responses.

Of course, you may retain an attorney to prepare and have interrogatories served. When you're recovering your own judgment, one can do this themselves, when you learn how. Begin by looking at the court's policies, to discover the way interrogatories are handled in their court.

One can find interrogatory samples either at the court, or on the web, or at a law library. Any sample you find need to be modified for the circumstances of the debtor and your court. The quality of your questions is more important than asking the maximum allowed in the court.

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