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Dec 01 2012
Enforcing a Judgment Across State Lines
Shanna Smith, CCE, Easton Technical Products

You've been awarded a judgment against your debtor for the collection of the debt. Knowing that it is now your responsibility to collect that debt, you contact a collections attorney [editor's note: or NACM] to assist you in enforcing the judgment. But what happens if your debtor moves to another state or the property to be seized is located elsewhere? Do you lose your judgment? No, but there is a process you must go through to have the judgment be valid in another state. (Actually, before you can seize assets located in a different county of the same state, you must docket the judgment in that county. But that is more common and relatively easy.)


The Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution compels a state to give another State's Judgment effect as if it were local. The majority of U.S. states have enacted what's known as the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act ("Act"). (The judgment of State A is referred to in State B as a "foreign" judgment..) The Act creates standard procedures for entering the judgment of State A in State B. Here's the basic process:


     * Determine which state and county the debtor is now located in or where the property to be seized is located.


     * Obtain what is referred to as a "certified - exemplified" copy of your judgment from the court in which the judgment was entered.


     * The certified exemplified copy of your judgment must now be filed in the state and county where you intend to enforce it. This is much the same as filing the original lawsuit and the judgment debtor must be served (again.) The judgment debtor does have some limited grounds on which to contest but they usually revolve around whether proper service was made in the original case.


     * Once this process is completed, you may then proceed with collection efforts in accordance with the collection laws of that state.


If a judgment in your state was awarded by a federal court, it may be enforced by registering it in the federal district court which serves the region in the state where the debtor moved or where the debtor's assets are located. This is much like docketing your judgment in a different county in the same state. You can then pursue collection efforts in the same manner as mentioned above.