I have been granted judgement by small court. Can I garnishee my debtors mortgage bank account?I do not have much information about my debtors work place or bank accounts. However I know for sure they have a home mortgage account. Can I garnishee this account? | |
A judgment gives you the right to attach any assets owned by your debtor. By mortgage bank account I assume you mean a line of credit on their house they can write checks on. So no you cannot attach a liability. You can houever place a lein on real property in which case their title co would inform the mortgage lender that there is another lein or the real property.
Depending on the $ amount of the judgement you might consider having an asset search done, as it is faster to receive your payment if you attach a bank account or retirment account.
Good Luck
doting grandpa is totally wrong. Once you have a judgment in hand, you can certainly begin to collect.
The problem is that every state has different laws, and how you proceed from here will depend on the state they have in.
No, you can not garnish their mortgage bank account. If they have a home, you can place a lien on their home, meaning that they can not sell their home until you have been paid. Since that can take many years, it's not very practical.
Same goes for "personal property" such as cars and boats. You can get them seized and auctioned off, but again it's a long and complicated procedure that will cost you additional money. For a small settlement it's not always practical.
Many states have what is called a "judgment debtor disclosure". For example, in Michigan you would file a motion with the court to order the debtor to disclose all of their financial information. That includes employment, bank accounts, property, and everything that could help you identify where their money is. Then you have all the info you need to garnish wages or bank accounts.
If you live in a state where you can seize state tax refunds, this disclosure supplies you with their Social Security number needed to file with the state.
I suggest you start here first. Also do a Yahoo search for your court rules in your state. Many have posted self-help information on how to collect on small claim judgments.
You can also go to the court and request this info, but note the clerks are not allowed to give you legal advice. So this is only going to give you some limited information.
I assume you mean a US Small Claims court. In most states, such a judgment has not legal weight. So, probably, no you cannot issue a garnishee.
