HELP - Collecting after a Judgement - Posted by Blake Starkey

import · November 13, 2008, 5:22am

Posted by Rich-CA on November 14, 2008 at 14:04:00:

The agency takes care of garnishment, which depends on the laws of the state where you find them. For example, in TX garnishment is not allowed so they won’t try. But in AZ it is allowed and not very difficult, so they will try. The other thing they do is track down assets (vehicles, accounts, job and so on). If they have no assets then they won’t waste money on more court time (which is required for garnishment) However, parking the debt on their credit report can help.

I had one deadbeat who left me with a couple grand in damages find and contact me a couple months ago after 2 years trying to get the debt off her credit report. Talking with the collections agency I found that her sole income was disability, which cannot be garnished. She wanted to move to a better neighborhood and the credit report entry was keeping her in war zones. Sometimes you can only steer the tenants towards worse neighborhoods because they have nothing for you to take.

Once you turn it over to the agency, they handle everything. I talk to them about 4 times per year to make sure they keep it moving, but these things are never fast. And if you find them in another state, it can get expensive trying to handle the court appearances long distance. The agency does that once they find something worth taking to pay the debt.

So far I have 6 files in collections for 4 incidents and while they have found all 6 of the people, no payments have arrived. The big one was the ones who fled to MA, which requires only agencies licensed in MA contact the deadbeats. Though the credit report hits take place from anywhere in the country so we did that. They have complained, but not much has come from it yet.

import · November 13, 2008, 5:22am

HELP - Collecting after a Judgement - Posted by Blake Starkey

Posted by Blake Starkey on November 13, 2008 at 06:22:24:

I own two properties. I have now had to evict two separate tenants who owed rent, wouldn’t leave, and literally forced us to “evict” through the courts. Then, being angry, they purposefully did a lot of damage to my property (trashed it). This has monetarily hurt me and my family. I know I shouldn’t bring emotion into this, but I (and my wife) genuinely feel violated. It is like we have been robbed. After evicting, I successfully got judgements against both (around $3,000 each). But they have disappeared. This is flat-out wrong, and there need to be some consequences. I know these turkeys are living and working somewhere. Above all, I would like to make an attempt at garnishing wages, but only if I can locate them. I have social security numbers on both. Are there websites, or does anyone know to track someone down? Or more importantly, how to find where someone is working (to make an attempt at garnishing) if all you have is a social security number? And is it possible to garnish if someone is living in another state if you have a judgement?

import · November 25, 2008, 12:58pm

You do have insurance, right? - Posted by Irwin(CA)

Posted by Irwin(CA) on November 25, 2008 at 13:58:25:

Check your policy. My policy covers malicious mischief, vandalism, and loss of rents.

HTH.
Irwin

import · November 14, 2008, 6:57am

Abstracted your J? - Posted by John Merchant

Posted by John Merchant on November 14, 2008 at 07:57:50:

Taking the J in Small Claims Court (which $3k certainly is these days)isn’t the last step for the J taker (you).

Once your SC Ct J is signed by the J and entered into that court’s records, you should then take a properly certified copy and record it in your Deed Records. The law refers to this step as “Abstracting the Judgment”.

If you’ll go talk to your Deed Records clerk he/she can show you the form which was used by somebody else to Abstract his SC J…then use that and do likewise with yours.

While the SC Court records might be seen by your credit agencies and reported, I’ll guarantee that the Abstracted J, once it is abstracted/recorded in Deed Records, WILL be picked up by the Big 3 and will start doing its damage to the defendants named therein.

The AJ will also be caught by title companies if/when those bad eggs are trying to buy, mortgage or sell any RE.

Many such Js are recorded in neighboring counties’ deed records, also in other states so it can follow those bad Ds wherever they might scurry.

It used to be that a final J in State A couldn’t be directly recorded in AJ records in State B, and required a new Suit on Out Of State J…but now I’m thinking virtually every state has recorded some version of a law that lets us record an out-of-state J in state B with a simplified procedure w/o our having to file a new suit in State B.

I once had to record a US State’s final J in a Canadian Province’s District Court and it was a fairly simple procedure also. A con-man in BC, Canada had taken a local WA architectural firm for some big bucks and then run back into BC, thinking they’d be safe just beyond the border…not so, and they had to work with us to get that WA J paid so it didn’t stay on the BC’s court and credit records and kill then.

FYI, anybody can quickly find, online, ALL Uniform Statutes that have been enacted by the Uniform Statutes National Commission and see what states have enacted each such Uniform Stat.

import · November 14, 2008, 6:18am

Re: HELP - Collecting after a Judgement - Posted by Natalie-VA

Posted by Natalie-VA on November 14, 2008 at 07:18:47:

It might be too late, but I would also talk with local authorities about criminal charges for the damages.

–Natalie

import · November 13, 2008, 1:04pm

Re: HELP - Collecting after a Judgement - Posted by DJ-nyc

Posted by DJ-nyc on November 13, 2008 at 14:04:15:

try www.411.com, myspace.com, pull their credit again

import · November 13, 2008, 10:54am

I use a collections agency - Posted by Rich-CA

Posted by Rich-CA on November 13, 2008 at 11:54:08:

They take care of finding them (I had one deadbeat fell to FL and then to MA but they found them, had another change names but they found that one too).

Now the lease, mine says the collections fee, 50% of what is owed, is added to their debt if I have to refer it. That way all additional expenses add to their debt. The collection agency will also make sure the judgment gets on their credit report right away. Makes it tougher for them to rent next time.

import · November 14, 2008, 3:32pm

Uniform Enforcement of For.Js Act - Posted by John Merchant

Posted by John Merchant on November 14, 2008 at 16:32:10:

The Unifom Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act is one of the Uniform Acts that has been enacted by many states, and allows a simplified procedure for enforcing a Judgment from one state in all other states.

Here’s the site for the Uniform Law Commission so one can quickly see the entire list of Unif.laws that have been published and what states have enacted which of these Unif. laws.

www.nccusl.org/Update/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=0&tabid=65

import · November 14, 2008, 2:36am

Re: I use a collections agency - Posted by Blake Starkey

Posted by Blake Starkey on November 14, 2008 at 03:36:10:

Thanks for writing back. Once you used the credit agency to locate them, were you able to garnish and collect any money? I feel it is an obligation to do whatever possible to help protect a future landlord from these tornadoes of human beings. I will absolutely follow your advice on that one. But at the same time, my wife and I are out (right now) close to 6 grand (and that HURTS). What I’m wanting to do is track them down and garnish wages, and collect money that is owed. Will any credit agency be able to assist w/ this effort?