subject: Judgment Collection And Interrogatories [print this page] I'm not a lawyer, I am a judgment referral expert. This article is my opinion, and is not legal advice, based on my experiences in California. If you ever need legal advice or a strategy to use, you should contact an attorney.
Most of the time, debtors disregard a judge's order to pay you. If a judgment owner them to pay the judgment, most debtors will lie to avoid paying your judgment. When you base any judgment enforcement decisions and actions only on hearing and believing the judgment debtor, your judgments may never be enforced.
Having no assets, or hiding assets and being sneaky, are the most popular ways to avoid paying judgments. Very often, the debtor does have some financial resources, enough to settle, or perhaps pay at least some of your judgment, at least with a payment plan, if not in a lump sum.
One way of attempting to learn the reality about the judgment debtor and their assets, is to use a legal procedure known as an "Interrogatory". If used as a post-judgment enforcement activity, the interrogatory is a list of questions served upon a judgment debtor, which they are (at least in theory) required to respond to completely and truthfully. The judgment debtor will have a strict time limit, that they must reply to your inquiries, and return your (completely) answered interrogatories.
With interrogatories, almost everything depends on what state and/or which court. In some states, post judgment interrogatories aren't supported; and are usually replaced by (e.g.) judgment debtor exams. When interrogatories aren't allowed or appropriate for your court or state, then the rest of this article might not be applicable to your judgment.
Interrogatories are used to discover details about your judgment debtor and their assets, which they wish you would never be able to find out. One can ask questions concerning their employment and income, bank accounts, real estate, bonds and stocks, and almost anything else about their possible assets which one would wish to know.
Different states and courts allow different limits on the questions that can be included, and have varying requirements on the way interrogatories need to be served on the judgment debtor or third parties associated to them. The time limits for a served party to respond, will vary by jurisdiction.
If your served party isn't forthcoming in their responses to interrogatories, or does not obey with the court rules, or if they lie when answering the questions, the judge might take punitive action against them. They could get charged with contempt of court.
Interrogatories can be an effective way to gain the upper hand, over a judgment debtor that is reluctant to reveal the facts concerning their capacity to satisfy the money judgment. If the law allows, and your court backs you up, it is good to know that the judgment debtor can't really afford anything except truthful responses and full compliance.
Of course, one can hire a lawyer to create and serve interrogatories. When you are recovering your own judgment, you can do this yourself, when you know how. Start by studying the court's rules of procedure, to discover how interrogatories are done at their court.
One can find interrogatory examples either at the court, or on the web, or at your law library. Any sample one finds need to be modified for the situation of the judgment debtor and your court. The wording of the questions is more important than the quantity allowed in your court.
