Collecting judgement awarded from dispossessory court?

[William Edmondson]

I just won my case to have my tenant evicted. I am in DeKalb County, Georgia. I won a judgement for $1360 and he has to vacate in 7 days.

I've heard of people saying garnish the wages, but he works for himself doing contracting jobs (I inherited the tenant).

What is the best way to collect on the judgement or at least make his life difficult if he doesn't pay it? Can I file a lien against him that will stop him from getting a loan if he applies for one? What would happen if I hired a collection agency? I want to at least make it difficult for him.

Thanks so much.

[Joel Owens]

William,

I used to have a 20 unit apartment building and dealt with this all the time.

He might have to vacate in 7 days but that doesn't mean it's when the Marshall comes out. Some counties get backed up serving the writ from the time of execution.

So theoretically you could wait 2 to 3 weeks before he gets out. If you could get them out in the next few days you might have a rental shot for March but likely you have lost all of March's rent.

What you have is a JUDGMENT PROOF tenant. You can try for a one time levy from their bank account instead of wage garnishment but it's a long shot. Collection company will not do squat as the contractors credit is probably trashed anyways so they won't care.

An attorney will not do anything either except for charge insane fees and guarantee NOTHING that will quickly approach the judgment award total.

You can use judgment companies but they will either partner 50/50 and pay for all upfront filing costs or buy the judgment for 10 cents on the dollar. Doubtful they will do either in your case as debtor is judgment proof.

At this point you can sit on the judgment for years and hope their situation changes over time and you get some payment. You could also try to say if they pay 500 today on the judgment and leave immediately then you will settle for that amount. The tenant if they have nay money might come back with an amount like 200 or something.

They get out early and do not damage the unit and you get a little coin now for a judgment that was going nowhere. Even if you start collecting on a judgment they can close down the bank account, go to a cash paying job, or file BK to wipe it out. Some states some investors have talked about garnishing their tax returns to get paid. I do not know if that is allowed in GA or not.

No legal advice