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Judgment Enforcement – The Step-by-Step Course

QUESTION AND ANSWER

Q: Do you suggest I sometimes use an attorney to help me?

A. On the less complicated cases, it’s probably not necessary at all unless you want to.
Then it might be handy, and make you feel more confident starting out. But make sure it’s
a post-judgment attorney. Attorneys have their niches, just like we do: Litigation.

Intellectual Property. Real estate. Entertainment. Few attorneys are in post-judgment (also
called “creditors attorneys”) If you need to, look for a good one.

I have a friend who lived in Florida, which is an awful state for this business. So, he looked
for good judgments in other states across the country, and then got good attorneys there to

handle them for him, for a flat fee or a percentage. That’s another way to go.

Have I used an attorney? About 3 years in, I had some difficult but very doable cases. I
sought out a top attorney and paid for an hour of his time. It was very helpful. But
typically, you won’t need one, especially when starting out. Cases vary, though, of course.

Q: Let’s say a JD is hiding and I simply can’t find him? What do I do
then?

A. You don’t need to know where he or she is. You only need to know where the assets
are. Have the sheriff seize them.

Or, maybe you know there are assets, but need to “examine” the debtor at court to find

them, but you can’t find him to get him served. Maybe he is hiding from someone. Perhaps
he is living at a friend’s house, or he’s gone to the desert to live like a hermit. Sometimes
the police are looking for the JD on an unrelated charge. So, if you think that is the case,
you may want to wait for the debtor to surface in one of your databases. Your judgment is
good for 7-20 years depending on which state you are in, and in most states it can even be
renewed (not Nevada).

NOTE: If you can’t find the debtor easily, that’s probably a good sign
that he has no assets, at least not now. I don’t accept judgments like that.
But if you already have, putting the judgment aside for a while might be the
best thing to do. Remember, it will continue to collect interest in the
meantime.

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