OK here is the deal...I sued my landlord last month and was awarded the judgment. My question is this...If he doesn't pay, what do I do? Question 2..Does this show up on HIS credit report? <evil laugh>
I don't know if your state is the same as ours, but here's our experience. There is a big difference in getting a judgment and collecting it. First, we had to file the judgment with the Circuit Clerk's office. This was the point at which interest began to accrue. The clerk's office had an Execution Against Property form to be signed by the clerk indicating that we did, in fact have a vaild judgment against the defendant and authorizing the sheriff to seize his property. We then had to take this form to the sheriff's department. A few days later they began attempting to contact the defendant and finally caught up with him. The purpose of the sheriff's visit was to seize any assets to which he had clear title. Only one problem. He told the sheriff he had no clear assets and would come by the store and pay us. The sheriff returned the form to us with a NULLA BONA stamp which apparently indicates there s nothing to seize. I believe our next step is to have him summoned to disclose his assets, but that's something we don't have a form for and we don't know exactly how it's done. We've considered getting some help from a lawyer, but since this is only about $1200 or so it's hardly worth much in fees. Maybe the fees would be recoverable, I don't know. I was told at some point in this process that the credit bureaus were contacted, but I have no way of knowing for sure. Anyway, that's the scoop on how it went down here. Hope your experience is better. DemPooches
