Finally collected on a small claims judgment against an ex-tenant

[Kyle J.]

A few months back, I wrote about my success with taking a tenant to small claims court and winning a judgment of about $6,000.  But we all know it's not whether you win or lose in small claims court, it's whether you can COLLECT on a judgment in the event that you do win. 

In this case, I was pretty sure I would be able to actually collect on my judgment using the wage garnishment process.  And that's exactly what I did. 

When the defendant (my ex-tenant) didn't pay me after losing the small claims case (surprise surprise), I went back to court and filed a Writ of Execution to begin the process of enforcing the judgment.  That process turned out to be very easy and didn't even involve going before a judge or having to notify/serve the defendant again.  All I had to do was file the Writ of Execution form and have the court clerk stamp it once it was filed. 

I then took the stamped Writ of Execution form to the Sheriff's Department in the county where the defendant works, and gave them that form along with an Application for Earnings Withholding Order (which I filled out and included the address of where the defendant works). 

That was it.  The Sheriff's Department took care of the rest, which included serving the order to the defendant's employer. 

Once the Sheriff served the defendant's employer, the employer was then required to return a form acknowledging whether or not the defendant still works there (she does), and list how often the defendant is paid and how much they make.  (This form goes to the Sheriff's Department but I also got a copy.)

The employer then has to comply with the order and deduct payments from the defendant's paychecks and forward them to the Sheriff who then forwards them to me.  There is a limit on how much can be deducted per paycheck (usually 25% of their disposable earnings), so it's not all going to come out of one paycheck.  But I figure something is better than nothing.

In this case, I just got my first check for just under $300 and I also spoke to the Sheriff's Department and they said they've already collected the next check (which is over $300).

At this rate, it'll be less than a year before I collect my full $6,000 judgment.  Not a bad return on a few hours of my time.  :)

[Kyle J.]

I recently finished collecting on this judgment. In total, I collected a little over $6k from the tenant.  It took a hair longer than expected because the ex-tenant tried filing a motion part way through the collection process to stop the wage garnishment order I had obtained. She did it by claiming a bunch of expenses she didn't really have (i.e. hundreds of dollars a month for car expenses when she claims not to own a car, etc) and arguing that her remaining disposable income wasn't enough to pay this debt and her monthly bills. But in the end, I was able to prove her expenses were falsified and she could more than afford to pay this court ordered judgment, and the judge ordered the wage garnishment to resume. 

As of now, the total amount owed has been paid. It was a good learning experience in how relatively easy the small claims process is. Hopefully I won't have to do it again, but at least now I'll know how if I do.