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Judgment Enforcement – The Step-by-Step Course

7. Oh, No! My JD moved to another state!

There are three instances when you may want to move a judgment from its original
state.

➢ The debtor moves out of your state and has assets.
➢ The debtor moves to your state from another state and has assets.

➢ The debtor is in your state, but the assets are in another state

All states are required by the constitution to give full faith and credit to
the laws of the other states. That means that other states will accept your judgment, along
with the interest that has accrued up to this point. But the judgment has to first be
domesticated as a Sister-State action (sometimes called a “foreign judgment”), and the
debtor has to be noticed (served with the new state judgment). To domesticate a judgment
costs between $7 and $450, depending on the state and the amount of money in the case.

And the rules for domesticating judgments are a bit different in each state. (Note: In NY,
and CT a hearing is required in domesticating a judgment if the judgment was a default
judgment)
Note: Sometimes the JD moved, but the assets are still here – home, car, bank,
something else. It may not be necessary to move the judgment, then. You want the
judgment to be where the assets are. Then they can be seized.

Okay, so what do it do?

When your debtor moves out of state, you may want to return the judgment unless the
debtor has assets in that state, such as real property, or if you think the JD has a bank
account at a national bank. If in your research you discover that the debtor has a job or

property, then it may well be “domesticating” the judgment into the other state.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Remember, we can levy bank account across state lines IF it’s a
national bank, such as Wells Fargo, B of A, Chase etc. Then we apply for a writ as

usual and levy. But if it’s a local bank – say, you’re in PA and the JD’s new account
st
is at 1 Fargo Bank in North Dakota, then you can’t levy from where you are.
Again: Some states use the term “sister-state judgment” and other states say “foreign
judgment.”

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