How Do I Collect on My Judgement

[B.Garnett]

My question involves judgment recovery in the State of: South Carolina
I have had a judgement against this company/person for 2yrs now. I filed with
the richland county sheriff's office and nothing has been enforced against the
debtor. They said I would have to take the case to a magistrate court to possibly
collect on my judgement. I've already spent money twice taken him to court and
fileing my case with the sheriff's office and nothing has been done.

My Question is... What is it that I could do to possibly get free legal representation
or a low income lawyer to represent me in court to help me collect on my judgement?

The debtor has made no attempts to try and satisfy my judgement.
I am in desperate need of legal representation... Mr.Garnett

[Mr. Knowitall]

You won't find a free collection service. If you want to collect your judgment you can explore the possibilities of garnishment, execution against assets, selling the judgment to a factor, hiring a collection firm or agency....

[B.Garnett]

They dont allow wage garnishment in the state of south carolina. He doesn't have any assets listed to collect on. You stated I could sell the judgement to a factor. What's a factor? Are those the only options I have?

[aardvarc]

Some OTHER forms of cases, such as criminal cases where there are things like restitution orders are a little different, in that the criminal defendant in a criminal case can have the order to pay as part of their parole/probation, and NOT paying can send them back behind bars. But for a civil case of your standard plaintiff versus your standard defendant, the plaintiff is on their own to collect on any judgment awarded by the trial court.

The downside of a LOT of successful civil judgments is that they are all too often not worth the paper they are written on. If the person doesn't HAVE any assets that can be located AND that can be attached, then the judgment can become little more than a moral victory. This is why it's SO important as part of a civil case to investigate a potential defendant for ABILITY to pay before going through the expense and time of bringing the case to trial. It's of little comfort to prevail on the legal issue in court, only to find one's hand still empty if the defendant can't or won't pay, or worse, having to go through additional hassle of hiring a collection agency to attempt to collect on your behalf (and eating up their own share of your money).

You can sell your interest in the judgment to a third party, who is likely to offer you pennies on the dollar for you to assign the judgment to them, allowing them to collect on it. Then they spend the time and money to track, harass, annoy, sue, garnish, seize, or otherwise attempt to collect the money (that way you at least get SOME cash, and they only get paid if they are actually ever able to collect anything - but you'll take a BIG hit in the amount in your hand).

Short of that, you can't get water from a rock. If the guy doesn't HAVE any money or assets, he can't PAY with any money or assets, even if he wanted to (and most don't want to). You can always hire a private investigator to see if he's got assets you can't find, but that's just MORE money up front out of your pocket.

[B.Garnett]

Can You Recommend Any "Good" Debt Collection Agencies to help me recover my judgement? Can You Recommend Any Low Income Attorneys To Help Me Recover My Judgement?

[Dogmatique]

I'm sorry, but we can't refer anyone.

[B.Garnett]

I have recently found out that this guy/company I have a judgement aignst filed for chapter 13 bankruptcy.. I wanted to know if I could still collect funds on my judgement.. I have recently spoken with the bankruptcy office and they said I might still need to obtain the help of an attorney...