Collecting a judgement

[useruser1]

I am a landlord in Maryland and I served my former tenant and I received a positive judgement in court.

I sent the tenant the questions for the interrogatories in aid of execution by first class mail to the address where the defendant was served.

However, the letter came back to me saying unable to forward. I am assuming the defendant did not move that quickly and is still there at the address, but who knows. The address was of the defendants parents house and the the defendant purposely went there and stayed there because it was known I was going to file in court for the damages and lost rent. I had hired a process server to serve originally.

My question is...now what can I do?

Do I just go back to court and file a motion compelling answers to interrogatories in aid of execution in the court?

 

[latigo]

I am a landlord in Maryland and I served my former tenant and I received a positive judgement in court.

I sent the tenant the questions for the interrogatories in aid of execution by first class mail to the address where the defendant was served.

However, the letter came back to me saying unable to forward. I am assuming the defendant did not move that quickly and is still there at the address, but who knows. The address was of the defendants parents house and the the defendant purposely went there and stayed there because it was known I was going to file in court for the damages and lost rent. I had hired a process server to serve originally.

My question is...now what can I do?

Do I just go back to court and file a motion compelling answers to interrogatories in aid of execution in the court?

What can you do now? My guess is you'll ultimately end up doing what zillions of others do with judgments against judgment proof, deadbeat debtors; framing it.

Anyway, I'm not sure how you could obtain an order to compel the judgment debtor to do something the doing of which you have no proof of his knowledge that the doing was required of him.

But neither do I profess to be an expert on Maryland's post-judgment procedural rules. Perhaps the mailing to the last known address was adequate proof. And if so, do likewise with a copy of your motion, affidavit and notice of hearing.

Then attend the (ex parte hearing because he won't be there) and get the judge to agree that proper service was completed and to issue the order. Then serve the defendant with a copy of the order. When he doesn't respond as ordered, which he won't, go back to court and ask that the judge to order the sheriff to arrest him and escort him to court.

OR . . . just assign the judgment to a nasty bill collector and be done with it.

Simple stuff, actually.

 

[useruser1]

Thanks for the info.

I have filed the Motion Compelling Answers to Interrogatories for Aid of Execution in the court. If the judge approves, the court will send the paperwork to me and then I will send to a process server to serve the defendant since they are across the country from me now and since they are not cooperating.

If they remain to be difficult, which they will, I will have to Serve them again with a Show Cause Order and if they fail to show for that next is to file an Attachment for Contempt where they will be arrested.

After this, it looks like I will have to serve other forms to the defended (Request for Service, Request for Garnishment on Wages/Bank Account/Property).

For each form, I have to hire a process server to serve the defendant which costs about $130 each time. This can get expensive.

Is this the better route to go, or possibly get a lawyer, or worse comes to worse debt collector? This is all new to me....

Thanks

 

[Zigner]

...next is to file an Attachment for Contempt where they will be arrested.

Not likely if they're "across the country"

 

[useruser1]

Not likely if they're "across the country"

I see. So what are the drawbacks of just assigning the judgment to a bill collector so I do not have to go through all this?
I am assuming they will take half the amount I am owed. Will it be easier just to use them vs. going through all this? Or are they difficult to deal with too?

Thanks

 

[Zigner]

How much is the judgment for?

 

[useruser1]

How much is the judgment for?

Around 10k

 

[Gail in Georgia]

For that amount, it may be beneficial for you to consider working with a collection agency. I never had any luck with this; you may.

I did manage to get a former tenant to start sending me payments on a judgment by sending her letters claiming I'd keep the court informed as to whether this order was being followed by her and "cc"ing (but never actually sending a letter to) the judge who did the ruling. The tenant thought if she didn't do this the judge was going to hunt her down and toss her in jail. But she still lived in the area.

Sadly, most judgments are never collected and often, all you can do is take any damages done to your rental unit off next years taxes.

Gail

 

[useruser1]

For that amount, it may be beneficial for you to consider working with a collection agency. I never had any luck with this; you may.

I did manage to get a former tenant to start sending me payments on a judgment by sending her letters claiming I'd keep the court informed as to whether this order was being followed by her and "cc"ing (but never actually sending a letter to) the judge who did the ruling. The tenant thought if she didn't do this the judge was going to hunt her down and toss her in jail. But she still lived in the area.

Sadly, most judgments are never collected and often, all you can do is take any damages done to your rental unit off next years taxes.

Gail

I have heard something similar too that most judgements are never collected. I don't want to keep spending money when there is a good chance nothing is going to come out of it either.

How far do I need to go to at least get this incident on their credit or somewhere where if they try renting again, this will come up and give a red flag to future landlords?

 

[useruser1]

So if the judgement that was ruled in my favor is in Maryland (the state where the tenant rented from me and where I am a landlord) and the tenant has moved to another state, I was told that I would have to I would have to move the judgement over to the state the person currently resides in to garnish wages/collect debt.

Is this true? That just complicates things even more.

For that amount, it may be beneficial for you to consider working with a collection agency. I never had any luck with this; you may.

I did manage to get a former tenant to start sending me payments on a judgment by sending her letters claiming I'd keep the court informed as to whether this order was being followed by her and "cc"ing (but never actually sending a letter to) the judge who did the ruling. The tenant thought if she didn't do this the judge was going to hunt her down and toss her in jail. But she still lived in the area.

Sadly, most judgments are never collected and often, all you can do is take any damages done to your rental unit off next years taxes.

Gail