# How do courts collect on financial judgments? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 4, 2025, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-courts-collect-on-financial-judgments/1016594 "2025-04-04T00:08:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-courts-collect-on-financial-judgments/1016594/1 "2025-04-04T00:08:31Z")
If someone is injured in, say, a car accident that isn’t their fault, and a judge awards them like $5 million, far more than the person responsible could ever hope to make in a lifetime, how does the victim get the money? ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-courts-collect-on-financial-judgments/1016594/2 "2025-04-04T00:19:56Z")
The defendant either pays the restitution or goes to jail until they can figure out a way to pay it. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-courts-collect-on-financial-judgments/1016594/3 "2025-04-04T00:22:56Z")
No, they don’t go to jail. For a $5 million judgement the plaintiff is not going to get the vast bulk of it. Obviously car liability insurance is the first place to collect. But the court can also garnish wages, levying on bank accounts, stocks and bonds, levying on real property, seize personal property to be sold, However the defendant can file for bankruptcy to protect part of his assets–particularly his homestead. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-courts-collect-on-financial-judgments/1016594/4 "2025-04-04T00:31:08Z")
I would think the responsible party’s insurance would be on the hook for the payment. That’s why it’s illegal to drive without insurance. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-courts-collect-on-financial-judgments/1016594/5 "2025-04-04T00:31:53Z")
The court sends bailiffs to collect physical property when a judgment is ignored as memorably occurred in this [case](https://abcnews.go.com/Business/bank-america-florida-foreclosed-angry-homeowner-bofa/story?id=13775638) > Nyerges then sought to recover his attorney’s fees, and got a judgment against the bank. Five more months passed: more phone calls, more letters; no payment. Nyerges went back to court and got a writ of execution, which gave him permission to seize bank assets in payment for his judgment. > On June 3, Nyerges, two sheriff’s deputies and a moving truck showed up at the local BofA branch. The deputies informed the manager that he could either pay the Nyerges’ legal fees— $2,500—or the movers would start taking away the bank’s furniture and cash. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-courts-collect-on-financial-judgments/1016594/6 "2025-04-04T00:33:30Z")
Generally no one except rich people and businesses have $5 million in insurance. I think that generally the plaintiff settles for whatever maximum insurance is available–unless it’s clear the defendant has very substantially more in assets. ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-courts-collect-on-financial-judgments/1016594/7 "2025-04-04T00:34:04Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Obviously car liability insurance is the first place to collect. But the court can also garnish wages, levying on bank accounts, stocks and bonds, levying on real property, seize personal property to be sold Just to add — an insurer will just pay up. But if there’s no insurer in the picture then the plaintiff will have to be practive in invoking and pursuing the various debt collection methods available; it doesn’t happen automatically. Collecting a judgment debt isn’t fundamentally different from collecting any other debt, really. It can be a lot of work, and a total pain, and won’t magically create money that isn’t there to meet the judgement. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-courts-collect-on-financial-judgments/1016594/8 "2025-04-04T00:40:19Z")
Truth is… sometimes they don’t. You can’t collect money that doesn’t exist. I sued someone for failing to pay my wages. I got about 1/3 of the judgement before the jerk disappeared, and I was lucky to get that. She owed money to so many people and entities, including the IRS, nobody got all they were owed. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-courts-collect-on-financial-judgments/1016594/9 "2025-04-04T01:35:44Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > The defendant either pays the restitution or goes to jail until they can figure out a way to pay it. They wasn’t what was referenced in the OP. Restitution is sometimes awarded in a criminal case. In that case, payment is usually a condition of probation. So a person could violate probation for not paying, provided they have the ability to do so (a hearing on this issue invariably asks about whether they are buying cigarettes, or getting new tattoos, or playing lotto, as part of the argument that the defendant is willfully in arrears). That violation of probation (a “vop”, in lawyer lingo) can result in jail time. But a car accident isn’t usually a criminal case. Instead, it’s civil, and the plaintiff might obtain a civil judgment. Those get recorded in public records, so they constitute a lien under the defendant’s name. This means that it’s going to come up on a credit check, and would probably have to be paid off if the person received certain proceeds (such as from the sale of a home). At least in Florida, recorded judgments are only valid for 10 years, although there is an option to get another 10 years if it’s re-recorded during the initial term (a quick google search for Colorado, where I used to live, shows that civil judgments also last 20 years, unless it was obtain in county court, where it’s 6 years). Additionally, in Florida a creditor can ask the DMV to suspend a person’s driver’s license for not paying a judgment. If the person gets on a payment plan, they’ll get their license back. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-courts-collect-on-financial-judgments/1016594/10 "2025-04-04T01:48:42Z")
Another point is that the thread title has a misunderstanding: courts do not collect on financial judgments; the person who is owed the money does. They use civil court process to do so, but normally they have to hire debt collectors to enforce, or have to be familiar enough with the debt collection process to do so themselves. It’s not the court’s function to go after the judgment debtor. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-courts-collect-on-financial-judgments/1016594/11 "2025-04-04T02:02:54Z")
I sometimes watch YouTube videos by lawyers and a number of them talk about “judgement proof” defendants. Even judges have told plaintiffs that they aren’t likely to see any money out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-courts-collect-on-financial-judgments/1016594/12 "2025-04-04T02:10:48Z")
In the case I cited above, sheriffs were involved, so it’s not entirely a private action. The plaintiffs requested a writ of execution from the court whixh directed law enforcement to get involved (this may be what you meant by understanding the debt collection process) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-courts-collect-on-financial-judgments/1016594/13 "2025-04-04T02:26:25Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > The court sends bailiffs to collect physical property when a judgment is ignored as memorably occurred in this [cas](https://abcnews.go.com/Business/bank-america-florida-foreclosed-angry-homeowner-bofa/story?id=13775638) That’s not what the article says: > [@](#): > > Nyerges went back to court and got a writ of execution, which **gave him permission to seize bank assets** in payment for his judgment. > > On June 3, Nyerges, two sheriff’s deputies and a moving truck showed up at the local BofA branch. Did the court send the deputies, or did Nyerges hire them to enforce the writ of execution which gave him permission to seize? There is no mention in the article that the court directed the deputies to act. @Moriarty may know how it works in Florida, since he practises there. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-courts-collect-on-financial-judgments/1016594/14 "2025-04-04T02:33:46Z")
I hadn’t considered that possibility- it seems like poor reporting to note that the guys were deputies and leave out the fact that they were working a second job at the time - but bad reporting happens. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-courts-collect-on-financial-judgments/1016594/15 "2025-04-04T02:45:11Z")
I found a guidline on how to enforce a civil judgment in Florida. The person who is owed the money must take all the steps to get the sheriff’s deputies to enforce it. If the person who is owed the money doesn’t do anything to enforce it, nothing will happen. It’s not the court who directs enforcement. > [@](#): > > ### How do I get the sheriff to levy personal property? > > 1. Locate the property. > > - The property must be located in Florida. > - The sheriff’s department will not locate the property for you. > > 1. Return to the Clerk of the Court that originally issued your judgment and ask for a _Writ of Execution_. > 2. Deliver the _Writ_ to the sheriff’s department for the county where the debtor’s property is located. > 3. Provide the sheriff’s department with: > > - A deposit to cover their fees and costs. > - Your written _Instructions for Levy_: > - Describing the property; and > - Telling the sheriff’s office where the property is located. > > ### What happens once the personal property is levied? > > - The sheriff’s department will sell the property at a public auction. > - The property will be sold to the highest bidder for _cash in hand_. > - You may bid on the property. > > - For the sheriff’s department to sell the property, you must: > - [Search our records by the judgment debtor’s name](http://www.sunbiz.org/jlilist.html) for other judgment liens filed under that name. > - [Search our UCC records by the judgment debtor’s name](https://www.floridaucc.com/uccweb/) for creditors that have filed UCC security interests under that name. > - Notify all creditors found (if any) of the date, time and place of the sale. > - Provide the sheriff’s department with a signed affidavit containing the information you found in your search for any judgment lien certificates against the debtor. > - Advertise the sale in a local newspaper once all notices have been sent. The person who is owed the money on the judgment is the one who has to take the initiative, both to get the property seized, and then to jump the hoops to get it sold by the sheriff’s office, by notifying any other creditors and showing to the sheriff’s office that they have been notified. It’s not directed by the court. > **[How to Collect a Judgment in Florida - Division of Corporations - Florida...](https://dos.fl.gov/sunbiz/forms/judgment-lien/collect-judgment/)** ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-courts-collect-on-financial-judgments/1016594/16 "2025-04-04T04:12:00Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > I hadn’t considered that possibility- it seems like poor reporting to note that the guys were deputies and leave out the fact that they were working a second job at the time - but bad reporting happens. They weren’t working a second job at the time; they were performing their duties as Sheriff’s deputies. But it’s like Northern Piper said — it’s up to the creditor to drive this process. The creditor goes to court and gets a writ of execution, authorising the enforcement of the judgment by seizure of the defeendants assets. Then he takes the writ of execution and gives it to the sheriff, who adds it to his to-do list and, at some point, goes and does it. The sheriff may, I think, charge a fee for this, or take a commission on the value of the goods seized. The bottom line is that there aren’t public servants who are paid to be responsible for collecting your private debts for you. It’s up to you to choose enforcement methods from the range available. Then it’s up to you to take the initiative and drive the process forward at each stage. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-courts-collect-on-financial-judgments/1016594/17 "2025-04-04T09:34:57Z")
As noted, If defendant has no assets there may be little point in trying to enforce judgement, other than the satisfaction of spoiling their credit rating. Corporations will eventually sell the debt to collectors, who will try to get at least something, even if it’s pennies on the dollar. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-courts-collect-on-financial-judgments/1016594/18 "2025-04-04T11:23:39Z")
Since we are talking Florida, it used to be the fact that in Fla you could not garnish wages, and one car and home were exempt from attachment. Sorta related, some times people suggest parents oughta be liable for their minor kids’ torts. One reason is most kids are relatively judgment proof - lacking assets that can be attached. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-courts-collect-on-financial-judgments/1016594/19 "2025-04-04T11:31:43Z")
Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-courts-collect-on-financial-judgments/1016594/20 "2025-04-04T11:32:20Z")
And thank you as well [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-courts-collect-on-financial-judgments/1016594.md?page=2)