You are thinking about suing someone else in civil court. The other party has done you wrong, and you believe monetary damages are in order. Here is the first question you have for your attorney: how long does it usually take to collect a money judgment? Unfortunately, you are probably not going to like the answer.
First of all, there is no black-and-white answer. Collecting a money judgment is a complex endeavor with a lot of moving parts. Judgment collection is also subject to a litany of state rules and regulations that can sometimes muddy the waters.
Worst of all, judgment debtors are not known as the most cooperative people in the world. They have a habit of supplying inaccurate information. They don’t reveal all of their assets, they try to hide the ones that are most valuable, and they take advantage of every opportunity to stall.
Staying Within the System
Judgment creditors are compelled to stay within the system to avoid running into trouble themselves. What does that mean? It means following the rules. For example, some states mandate a waiting period between the date a judgment is entered by the court and the date on which collection efforts can commence.
The experts at Salt Lake City’s Judgment Collectors says the point is to give defendants time to appeal the judgment. The Utah collection agency says that appeals rarely succeed, but that does not change the fact that judgment creditors are put on hold until an appeal is heard.
Rules abound in most states. They are designed to protect a debtor’s rights. There are rules governing wage garnishment, judgment liens, and writs of execution. There are rules governing post-trial discovery. Nearly every step of the way a judgment creditor has rules to follow. The rules tend to slow things down considerably.
Getting Around Delay Tactics
Staying within the system obviously limits how quickly a judgment creditor can move forward. But that is the worst of a creditor’s problems. Bigger problems are found in the delay tactics debtors may use to avoid paying.
A debtor might provide inaccurate employment and residence information. This hinders a creditor’s ability to garnish wages and bank accounts. While the creditor is working on those two things, the debtor may be busy trying to transfer or hide assets.
It can take a while for a creditor to find a valuable piece of real estate that could be utilized to encourage payment. And if a debtor transfers that real estate into someone else’s name to protect it, the creditor will first have to prove what happened before being able to file for a writ of execution against it. Both take time.
The Means of Enforcement Matters
If you set aside the rules and a lack of cooperation, there is yet another reason judgment collection takes so long: the means of enforcement. Let’s say a judgment creditor is dealing with a debtor who legitimately has no valuable assets worth pursuing. The debtor’s income is also limited.
An attorney might advise the creditor that agreeing to a payment plan is the best way to ensure full payment. But because the debtor’s income is limited, any such payment plan could stretch on for years. The creditor thought he would be paid in a few months. Now it looks like full payment will take much longer.
If the amount of time it takes to collect would influence your decision to file a civil lawsuit, you now know a little bit more about what collection is like. The chances of getting paid quickly are not very high.
