What happens if you have a judgment against you and are unable to pay immediately?

Answer 1

If you have no money, you are "judgment-proof". For example, let's say a person was sued by a creditor, and that person was retired, his income a Social Security check, he had no bank account, no property, no car, nada. Creditors could sue and win until the cows came home. But the "win" would be nothing. There could be many other reasons, but the bottom line is that if there are no wages to garnish, no property to put liens on, no bank accounts to attach, then the judgment is monetarily meaningless. One would think that a creditor would avoid taking this kind of person to court.

The creditor will likely leave the judgment out there, and will eventually garnish your wages or attach to your checking account if you do become employed again. They can also garnish other income, such as government pay outs and even your tax refund. It is difficult to be truly judgment proof and not homeless. They can lien any property you own, they can wait until you are employed to begin garnishing pay checks/bank accounts. In some states, they can even force a "fire sale" where all your assets must be sold.

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FYI: Social Security/SSI income in most cases [the exception being alimony and child support] can not be garnished, regardless of whether or not you have a bank account.

Answer 2

The judgment creditor or plaintiff can execute the judgment in the manner allowed by the laws of the debtor/defendant's state. Some ways of enforcing a judgment are, garnishment of wages, or levy of bank accounts, or seizure and sale of non exempt property, or liens against real property owned by the debtor. Jointly owned bank accounts can be levied and jointly owned property can have a lien attached by creditors. There are a few states that do not allow wage garnishment. Also, property owned by married couples as Tenancy By The Entirety is not subject to creditor action when only one spouse is the named debtor.

Answer 3

If you can't pay the judgement, it will continue to accrue interest. It is good for 10 years and is renewable once for an additional 10 years. The judgment creditor has several options for executing a judgment. In the majority of US states the judgment can be used as a wage/income garnishment or bank account levy or seizure and sale of any non exempt personal property owned by the debtor (stocks, bonds, etc.) or a lien against real property or the portion thereof owned by the judgment debtor.

Answer 4

The judgment holder can proceed to execute the judgment writ in whatever manner is allowed under the laws of the debtor's state. Some methods might be, wage garnishment, bank account levy, seizure and sale of any non exempted personal property belonging to the debtor, or a lien against any real property belonging to the debtor.

Answer 5

If you have no assets to pay the judgment, but have a job, the creditor will probably look to garnish your wages. If you have no job, the judgment will remain on the docket as a lien against any real estate yo may purchase or inherit in the future and attach to that. Then that real estate can be sold to pay the judgment.
If the judgment debtor has no current financial resources which can be attached by the judgment creditor, the creditor will usually wait until the situation changes.

Very few people are completely judgment proof, there is usually some form of property that can be seized and sold to pay the debt or have a lien placed against said property until the debt is satisfied.

For example, if the debtor owns a home the judgment creditor can place a lien on the property thereby keeping it from being sold, refinanced or a transfer of title until the lien is paid.

Answer 6

the court will add extra sentence(prison /correction) in lieu of inability to pay

you cannot serve jail/prison time for a civil lawsuit. Civil law and criminal law are two entirely different things.

Answer 7

The plaintiff can file a motion to have your property seized to pay off your debt. Generally, this means garnishing your bank accounts or paychecks. Sometimes courts can find you in willful contempt for refusing to pay and hold you in custody until the funds are paid.

Answer 8

If a judgment has been entered, they will find some way of obtaining the money.

They may garnish wages, taking a certain amount of each paycheck.

They can seize property and sell it.

They can seize bank accounts.

Answer 9

Unfortunately this is a problem that befalls a lot of people and the court is not too helpful in the actual collection after a judgment has been rendered. If the defendant really cannot pay the judgment then you may want to consider settling for less since it can take a long time to collect what you are owed, if ever. I have outline some other options for you to consider.

# If the debtor is willing to pay but doesn't have the money - Try to make some suggestions. Their might be resources that the debtor haven't thought about. # Pursue easy-to reach assets first - Try the easier ways to collect your money first; garnish wages, place liens against real estate, seize bank accounts or intercepting money paid to a debtor's business. It is much more difficult to try to force a sale of a debtor's house, vehicle, business assets or personal property. # Keep track of the debtor - It's important to keep track of the debtor. The more you know about the person or the business who owes you money the more likely you are to get your money. # Timing is everything - Try to collect before other creditors learn of your plans. Also if you are collecting from an account where the debtor's salary is deposited, collect on the day when the salary is deposited. # Pressing the debtor- You can report the judgment to a credit-reporting agency. In some cases bad credit can result in someone losing his/her license if the debtor is a contractor. This is the case in California. # Most judgment collection costs are recoverable - However, if you can't collect anything from the debtor, you won't get these costs either. So don't spend too much money trying to collect your money. Good Luck collecting!