I filed a civil suit against my former attorney. By default, I won because he didn't show up. He never appealed in the 30 days he had to. My next question to the courts was, "How do I get my 3,106 dollars? " Fearing that it didn't matter that I won, he still wouldn't pay me. They said to go to the clerk of courts and file a judgement against his name. So I did that. I have been waiting 3 months now, and the judgement I filed seemed to do no good. I just found out that the man I sued had died last week. My question is, now that he has died, will I get my money by default? I have no clue on what steps to take. If someone had any info on this matter, and can help me, I would be appreciative. This all took place in Pittsburgh, PA. Thanks in advance

I wrote a full answer but this forum ate it. :(

Whoever told you to record the judgment wait was not telling you everything you needed to know. That would only have been effective if he was trying to sell real property.

Check and see if someone has applied to probate court to be his personal rep.

If not, get a writ of execution and proceed to execute.

This is the catch 22 of suing someone. Often getting the judgment is the easy part. Collecting is much harder. I suspect your attorney knew he was terminally ill which is why he didn't bother fighting you.

When you win a suit you are awarded a judgment for an amount of money. That's where the courts responsibility pretty much ends. If the defendant refuses to pay, then its up to you to try and collect. You have a few options open to you, like find where they bank, and attach their accounts, find where they work and garnish their salary, find property they own and place a lien on it, or seize personal property and then sell it.

To do any of these things you have to get details about the property you want to attach and then apply to the court for a writ of execution to serve on the holder of the asset.

Obviously none of these things apply now that the defendant is deceased. So what you need to do now is find out whether his estate has been probated and file a claim against the estate for the amount of the judgment. Include a copy of the judgment with the claim.

The executor of the estate is required to assemble all debts owed by the estate and pay those off before distributing the estate to the heirs. However, there may not be enough in the estate and there is a priority to debts owed that will vary by area. But your first step is find out if the estate is in probate, get the docket number of the case and file your claim.

Right, Scott.

In many cases, however, probate case are simply not opened. That could be because there are no assets, or because survivors simply take the assets without bothering with probate. Thus, I believe, it might be necessary to continue with execution procedures until you force the next-of-kin to come forth and open a probate case. In many places, I believe, the opening of a probate case stays other efforts to collect from assets of a decedent.