subject: Enforcing Sister State Judgments In Texas [print this page] You have a judgment issued in a state other than Texas. However, your judgment is against a person who either resides in Texas or has acquired assets in Texas.
Is there anything at all you can do to collect your out-of-state judgment in Texas?
Indeed, there is. The process requires the domestication of your judgment in Texas and is referred to as sister state judgment enforcement.
You have a couple of alternatives available for domesticating your judgment in Texas. The first is far and away the simplest and easiest procedure. And, it's a process you can do without a lawyer. The second is a bit more difficult and its requirements are actually such that you really require the help of an attorney. I'll discuss the details of the first option.
The Procedure for Sister State Enforcement
The easiest solution in order to domesticate a sister state judgment in Texas is the affidavit procedure. Texas accepts the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act. Following this Act, you simply file a copy of your sister-state judgment with any court of competent jurisdiction. You will need to also file an affidavit supplying your name and address together with the name and last known address of your defendant.
Before Texas will accept your judgment filing and affidavit, your judgment should be correctly authenticated. This basically means that there should be documentation your order is truly what it claims to be. In other words, there ought to be proof that it is a legitimate, bona fide and incontestable judicial judgment delivered by a magistrate in your state.
The Texas Rules of Evidence stipulate that many documents are self-authenticated. A self-authenticated document is one where the reliability of the document is recognizable from the document itself. Self-authenticated documents are assumed to be genuine and reliable.
In the case of your sister state judgment, you have the ability to confirm it as a self-authenticating document as defined by the Texas Rules of Evidence. To do so, you just get a certified copy of your judgment from the clerk of the court which issued it.
So, rather than simply reproducing your order and fastening it to the affidavit, you request the clerk where it was issued to provide you a certified copy of the order. Attach the certified copy to your affidavit and file both with a Texas court of competent jurisdiction.
Jurisdiction Concerns for Sister State Enforcement
You have to file your judgment and affidavit in a Texas court of competent jurisdiction. Essentially, there are actually 4 different courts in Texas where you can possibly file your judgment. They are:
- Justice Court
- County Court
- County Court at Law
- District Court
You must locate the proper court for your judgment. To make that choice, you must understand the phrase competent jurisdiction.
To overly simplify it, think of Texas jurisdiction in civil issues (i.e., non-criminal cases) as being divided by money. This means that every court in Texas has jurisdiction in civil issues on the basis of the amount of money at issue. It breaks down as follows:
- Justice Court - up to a maximum of $ 10,000
- County Court - $ 200 - $ 10,000
- County Court at Law - $ 200 - $ 100,000
- District Court - $ 200 and up
To determine the court of competent jurisdiction for your sister-state judgment, you just have to look at the total amount of money the defendant was ordered to pay you. If, for example, the order specifies he is to pay you $ 5,000, you can choose to file in either a Justice Court, County Court, County Court at Law or District Court. On the other hand, if the order declares he is to repay you $ 15,000 you can only file it in the County Court at Law or District Court.
Immediately after you identify the court of competent jurisdiction, you need to determine the proper county for filing. The correct county in which to file is either the one where the defendant lives or the one where he has acquired properties.
Soon after your judgment is properly domesticated in Texas you can pursue collection as if your judgment was rendered in an original Texas legal action. All the post-judgment collection procedures available to any Texas judgment creditor are readily available to you.
