Sometimes in the process of collecting a judgment, it seems like there ought to be a bigger monetary reward. To begin with, the jerk messed me up when he did whatever it was that he did that led me to file a legal claim against him. Then when I won my lawsuit against him and obtained my monetary judgment, he didn’t automatically pay me. His obstinacy made it unbelievably hard to collect what he owed me. When it was all said and done, I felt like he should have to pay me much more than the judgment amount, even taking into account the interest that accrues on the judgment.

I discovered that sometimes there can be a way to collect more than just my judgment. Of course there is the usual statutory interest, and the lawful tacking on of some fees and collection cost. But these are not what I am talking about.

What I discovered is that many judgment debtors have a history of messing up. They not only did wrong to one victim, they have done wrong to other people as well. I found out that my judgment debtor has made some other enemies along the way. Guess what, some of those other victims have sued my judgment debtor and have prevailed against him in court. They won a money judgment just like I did.

Since I long ago realized that 80% of judgments go unpaid, I figured that most of the judgments that my adversary owed to other people remain unsatisfied. Since I am persistent enough to enforce my own judgment (until the last farthing is paid), why don’t I go ahead and enforce the judgments other people have against this guy as well as my own judgment? Since I am going to the trouble of discovering this guy’s assets, his whereabouts, and so forth, why not take advantage of the knowledge I’m gaining to collect any other judgments debts that he owes other people?

By doing a little research on-line or at the court house, I can identity others who have judgments that he owes. My next step is to then contact the other victims and offer to purchase their judgments. If they show any interest in getting any money out of their judgment, then I can make an offer to purchase. I don’t want to offer any more than 50% of what I successfully collect on their judgment. Naturally this would be on a future pay basis. If the state or jurisdiction won’t allow me to enforce a judgment purchased on a future pay basis, then I can make a cash offer at a much much lower price. If they like my offer, we sign a purchase agreement and they make an assignment of their judgment to me. As the new owner of the judgment, I file the acknowledgement of assignment with the clerk of court. I am now able with my newly purchased judgment to engage in the same collection activity as I have been doing on my own original judgment.

This allows me to benefit from the enforcement effort from one judgment and simply duplicate it on any additional judgments that I have purchased against the same debtor.

I may have become my judgment debtor’s worst nightmare. He doesn’t have a clue that I now own more than one judgment against him. My investigation of him led me to know where he works or does business, where he banks, what real property he has, what personal or business property he owns. I can collect my original judgment and the others as well using the same information and tactics.

In spite of the difficulty that my judgment debtor has put me through, I am starting to feel better about the whole situation. I am getting the justice I deserve.

Important Note: I wouldn’t pursue this without first becoming crystal clear on the legalities of buying and enforcing judgments awarded to someone else. My ability to purchase any judgment and then attempt to collect depends on my accurate reading and understanding of pertinent statutes and court rules in the particular state and jurisdiction that applies. But, I have found this to be doable and profitable.

Now you can see how I am able to collect my judgment…and then some!