Post Judgment Discovery
I'm not a lawyer, I am the country's only judgment broker
. This article is my opinion, and not legal advice. If you ever want legal advice or a strategy to use, please contact an attorney.
Enforcing a judgment requires one to learn relevant information about your judgment debtor or their assets. Most often, it's hard to recover a judgment when you do not know what assets your adversary has.
There are two ways to get the info you require. One method is to hire an expert, a private investigator, or a business to locate the debtor's bank accounts, real estate, income sources, and perhaps hidden assets. This article doesn't cover that way.
This article covers the other method of getting this info, through formal discovery using court-ordered examinations and document production requests.
Discovery is a formal court procedure where one requests pertinent information or documents from your debtor, or third parties possessing information about/on your judgment debtor's assets, to try to "discover" relevant facts about the assets of your judgment debtor.
Discovery methods available for either post or pre-judgment proceedings, includes judgment debtor exams, interrogatories depositions, requests for documents or things for production, and consent to enter upon land or other property for inspection or for other reasons.
Most people will check with their attorney, or when doing discovery themselves, begin by learning the local court rules and state laws. Then, look for examples of motions for discovery that have been used in your court, to learn what kinds of post-judgment discovery are available to you.
Every now and then, debtors that have not cooperated, and have no interest in paying the judgment debt, begin to pay, after they get served with a court-mandated request for post-judgment discovery.
The realm of info that can be obtained with the processes of post-judgment discovery procedures are usually very broad. Usually the motto is "Leave no stone unturned." Usually, courts are supportive of post-judgment discovery, however some are reducing their support, because of the economic mess.
As long as you prepare the right paperwork, pay the court, and get all parties served properly, one can also bring in third-parties who know about or possess, the judgment debtor's assets.
One example of a 3rd-party witness to a debtor's assets might be your debtor's employer, to disclose employment and payroll records. Another example is a bank or financial institution, that usually will be required to disclose records on the debtor's bank accounts.
What will happen if your debtor won't comply with the court's order to answer inquiries, bring records, or even to show up in court? That answer depends on which state and what court.
In certain courts, blatantly disobeying a court order in a post-judgment proceeding is punished with contempt of court charges and possible jail sentences, or at a minimum a warrant for your debtor's arrest. In other places, debtors are never arrested, and contempt of court on civil issues are not a priority with busy courts. If your Sheriff and court take bench warrants and contempt of court seriously, it will sure get the judgment debtor's attention.
The best part of court discovery is often when third-parties served to answer questions or produce records about the judgment debtor or their assets. Even if a debtor does not care about a court's order to appear for a judgment debtor exam, they might become uncomfortable when their business partner, spouse, landlord, or employer gets served for a court order.
by: Mark Shapiro
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