Florida Judgment Collection Law Firm

Florida Judgment Liens

When a certified copy of a judgment is recorded in a Florida County, it creates a lien against real property located within the County.  Our Florida collection attorney has written articles before, however, reminding creditors that Florida has very stringent homestead protection. Our Florida debt collection firm has several active debt collection cases where our collection attorney is attempting to have the court find the equitable exceptions to Florida homestead. If you are attempting to collect money from a debtor in Florida and you believe that the debtor may have  a homestead, speak to our Florida collection lawyer and discuss if there is the possibility of piercing the Florida homestead protection.

Collection Law Firm Florida

Collection law firm – Collection Attorney

Florida Judgments Are Valid for Twenty Years

Florida Statute 55.081  provides that judgments shall act as  a lien against both real and personal property in Florida for no more than 20 years.  Our Florida collection attorney reminds creditors, however, that a certified copy of the judgment must be recorded in the county of the debtor’s residence to perfect the lien. The lien after recorded is valid for ten years and is able to be renewed one time, to extend the lien for  the twenty year life of the judgment.  Creditors should be mindful that to acquire priority against  personal property of a debtor, a judgment lien certificate  must be filed with the Florida  Department of State. Judgment Lien Certificates a re valid for 5 years and are able to be renewed for an additional 5 years.  Florida Statute 55.204 . Our Florida collection attorney can still proceed to execute on personal property if a Judgment Lien Certificate is not acquire. The caveat is that if there are other creditors who have recorded their judgment Lien Certificate, their judgments must be satisfied before your judgment upon execution by the sheriff.

Florida Debt Collection Law Firm and Collection Attorneys

Our Florida debt collection law firm welcomes your inquiries to see if we will be able to assist you in collecting on your Florida Judgments. Our collection lawyer explains, getting a judgment is usually the easy part. How you collect your Florida Judgment can sometimes be difficult. Please call our Florida debt recovery law firm and ask t speak to one of our collection attorneys to devise a  debt collection strategy.

 

Post Judgment Collection Law Firm

Post Judgment Collection

What Can Our Debt  Collection  Attorneys Do  to Collect Your Money After Judgment

After Judgment is obtained and the debtor does not voluntarily   make a payment to satisfy the judgment, there are several options to consider. If you know where the debtor has assets, writs can be issued by the Court giving the Sheriff to seize assets to satisfy or partially satisfy the Judgment. We often ask our clients to keep copies of checks of all payments they may receive from their customers. There may come the day when the customer becomes a debtor and knowing where the debtor banks may lead to successful garnishment of funds in the debtor’s bank to satisfy the judgment.

Judgment collection Law Firm Florida

Judgment collection law firm

If you are uncertain about where the debtor may have assets, the Court allows creditors to conduct post judgment discovery. You have the option of taking the debtor’s deposition or of sending post judgment interrogatories to the debtor. If the debtor fails to respond to post judgment discovery, the Court can assist the creditor in getting the debtor to comply. The debtor must turn over financial information to the creditor. Failure to do so may lead to the Court holding one of the officers of the judgment debtor entity or an individual judgment debtor in contempt of Court.

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Our firm will also use post judgment discovery to determine if money has been fraudulently transferred to a third party or to another entity that may be owned by the either the individual judgment debtor or corporate judgment debtor in an effort to conceal assets from creditors. If so, we can explore the possibility of naming these third parties in a lawsuit as defendants alleging fraudulent transfer

Collecting Out of State Judgments

If you are trying to collect money on an out of state judgment, Florida Courts will give out of state Judgments Full Faith and Credit, recognizing them as if they were entered by a Florida Court. To effectuate collection on your out of State Judgment, you will need to first record the Judgment. The clerk will give the debtor thirty (30) days to contest the validity of the Judgment. Typically the most common defense is the foreign court did not have proper personal jurisdiction over the debtor.

After the thirty (30) days have elapsed, creditors will be in a position to begin proceedings to collect their money. Our Florida Judgment Collection Law Firm and Collection Attorney are here to assist creditors collect their out of state judgments.

If you have any further questions regarding the Florida debt collection process, collecting on out of state judgments or the  Florida debt collection process, feel free to call or email our collection lawyer to answer your questions.