Collecting A Court Award Loretta Salzano

I have received a court award and now I need to know how to go about collecting the money from the other party.

-- Anonymous

A. 

Congratulations on winning this award.

It seems the reality of collection is becoming clear to you. IF you know the whereabouts of the defendant's assets, that will make things much easier. You can file a lien in the county where the defendant owns real and/or personal property so that the defendant cannot sell or refinance the property without satisfying your judgment. You can also attempt to garnish the defendant's bank and other accounts. You need to find these first. Then there are specific legal notices of garnishment that you can send. Finally, you can also garnish the defendant's wages, if the defendant receives wages. The county clerk where these assets are located can help you with the necessary forms, notices and filings.

If you haven't a clue as to where to look for these assets, you can enlist the help of an attorney to depose the defendant so that you can ask questions about where to find assets. You can also hire a collection agency or skip tracer if you need help finding the person. These service providers will all require fees or a cut of what they collect, so you might want to give this a try on your own. If you used an attorney to win your award, that is also a great starting place for help. Best of luck getting blood out of your turnip!

-- Loretta Salzano