Sometimes, my judgment creditor clients get antsy. This generally starts a few months after we’ve been awarded a monetary judgment. After we’ve recorded it as a lien. After we’ve looked for cash/bank accounts/assets. After we’ve come up short on our initial garnishment efforts.
And, after all doing all that, sometimes, my best advice is to give it some time. As you’ll recall, unless we’re dealing with a judgment debtor who is depleting or hiding assets, my advice in judgment collections is often to be patient.
Judgments are good for ten years in Tennessee, and, if I’ve done my job as a creditors rights attorney, I’ve laid all the necessary traps, tricks, and liens to capture assets in the future.
But, having said all that, it drives some clients crazy to be patient.
Today, after about 40 phone calls over the past 4 years saying all of this to a big judgment creditor client, I got to tell him “See, I told you so.”
With property values skyrocketing, our judgment debtor finally (and inevitably, I’d add) has decided to sell real property, and a closing company called for a full payoff.
Creditors Rights 101 