I just won a judgement for $5,000 in a municipal court in Ohio, but everyone's telling me that's the easy part. Can please someone tell me how to collect my money from this individual? I can't garnish his wages because he's selfemployed ( he's got a little car-lot ). I don't know where he banks, but I know he owns his condo.

I just won a judgement for $5,000 in a municipal court in Ohio, but everyone's telling me that's the easy part. Can please someone tell me how to collect my money from this individual? I can't garnish his wages because he's selfemployed ( he's got a little car-lot ). I don't know where he banks, but I know he owns his condo.


You can file a lien against his condo - but, of course, you won't get your money until he sells - or you can file against his receivables.

I've mentioned this before. On two occasions it's worked. The creditor sends a check to the debtor in an enticing amount, say $25.00. Debtor cashes it. Creditor now has bank info on debtor.

You could also lien against one of the vehicles in his lot or actually seize one.

I don't know how user friendly Ohio Courts are but "Twinkie" will come along and let you know - she's in Ohio.

You might consider hiring a collection agency. Was your judgement against the individual or his company. If it was against the company, then you could seize some of his stock. Other than that you will need to find out where he banks.

Check back with the court, they may force him to complete an asset questionnaire.

Scott is correct about the asset questionnaire. You need to file Financial Interrogatories and send to him as soon as possible and if he does not answer these within the 30 days for this after a hearing showing that he didn't answer them, the Judge will hold him in contempt (possibly giving him an additional 20-30 days in which to answer) and Order him to Answer these Interrogatories showing his assets, personal bank account numbers. It just takes a few weeks to get all the information on him. Just be patient.

Thanks a lot, folks. Your responses were really helpful. At least now I know that lien is out of the question. I can't wait for him to sell his condo. And to answer your question Scott, the judgement is against him, not his company. I know where he banks, but I don't know his personal account information, and I don't think that istitution would give me that information.

Once again, thanks a bunch :)

Depending on the court, you may be able to get a blanket writ of attachment if you know the bank. You have to apply for such a writ from the court. The judge might word the writ as; against any and all funds deposited with <name of bank> by <name of debtor>. If the judge will do that you don't need specific account info. You will, probably, need a SSN, though.

As I recently found out, this dude even owes the dead :) I really hope there's still a bank ballsy enough to do business with him. I won't be surprised if he doesn't have a bank account at all. Maybe I should go to a collection agency and let them crack this one.

Yes, as you are finding out, getting the judgement is the easy part. A lot of judgements never get collected on esp on those people who have spent years learning how to keep things in other peoples names.

Hi folks,

I won a $5,000 lawsuit against a debtbeat. He's selfemployed and might own his condo ( not really sure ). I just filed for J.D. exam and the court date is in a few weeks. How do we know that ( if he does show up ) he's telling the truth? He can just say that he doesn't have a bank account and he owns nothing. Is there any legal mechanism that would prevent this from happening? After all, the guy's a pathologycal liar.

Thanks for your time.

~Angel

Hire a private investigator. Other than that you could do a real estate search and see if anything comes up in your county or surrounding counties for him.

Wouldn't this fall under the laws of perjury? Also, if he owns his condo, it would be a public record. Check with the town clerk in the town he lives. He should be able to guide you.

Please note: I am not a lawyer. I just read a lot.

Hi folks,

I won a $5,000 lawsuit against a debtbeat. He's selfemployed and might own his condo ( not really sure ). I just filed for J.D. exam and the court date is in a few weeks. How do we know that ( if he does show up ) he's telling the truth? He can just say that he doesn't have a bank account and he owns nothing. Is there any legal mechanism that would prevent this from happening? After all, the guy's a pathologycal liar.

Thanks for your time.

~Angel



You can't tell if he's telling the truth. People lie under oath. Agree with Twinkie. See what he says and then do your own (hire someone if you have to) investigation of his assets.

I won a $5,000 law suit against this guy, but earlier this year he transferred his condo into his wife's name. Needless to say, he doesn't have a job or any other assets.

Can I somehow go for his wife's assets? Just wondering.

~Angel

Nope. Unless you can prove he was hiding assets, Which will be difficult.

I won a judgement recently. In 2 days we have a court date for a J.D. exam. The only assets he might have are his cars. Can I reposes his cars? And is there a way to find out if the car he's driving is in his name, or if he also has other vehicles in his name?

I'm asking this because he will probably lie and try to hide his assets.

Thank you.

I won a judgement recently. In 2 days we have a court date for a J.D. exam. The only assets he might have are his cars. Can I reposes his cars? And is there a way to find out if the car he's driving is in his name, or if he also has other vehicles in his name?

I'm asking this because he will probably lie and try to hide his assets.

Thank you.


You can't repo it unless you hold the paperwork on it and it's part of the Judgment. You can file a lien against vehicles in some States; in others, you cannot. You may be able to seize it and sell it to pay off the Judgment. Again, depends on the State.

As long as you're going to be examining him (or your Attorney will) ask for the information you want to know and ask to see proof. Ask him for the registration. Ask him about other vehicles. That's the purpose of the deposition (or whatever it's called in your State).

You have other threads going on exactly this same subject - received good info. These threads should be combined for ease in answering.

>FOUR Threads Merged<

Please syick to ONE thread for this issue.

Hi folks,

I was just wondering if one could file a lien against somebody's vehicles in the state of Ohio?

I don't believe you can do this. You can file a lien against a property for judgments or a workman's lien for non payment of services. If you won a judgment against the person, that would be a different story. To be on the safe side, call your county DMV office and ask them.

Did you file a lawsuit against the person who owns said vehicle and if so, did you win? Or are you asking hypothetically?

I'm sorry I forgot to mention that, but yes I won a judgement of $5,000 against him. We just had a JD exam this past Wednesday and scheduled another one for couple of months. He agreed to pay me $150 monthly, but I can't trust his guy. Earlier this year he transferred his condo into his wife's name and all I can get him for are his vehicles on his little car lot.

~Angel

If it's not his personal vehicle, then I don't believe you can file a lien on it. If he owns the car lot, then you can file against the business.

This might sound stupid - but did you mean I can file a lien against his business, or to file a whole new law-suit against his business?

If you got a personal judgement against him, then you can't attach business assets unless they are in his name personally. You would have to file a suit against the business, but you probably would have done that if the problem was business related.

You can't file a lien against an asset like a car, but you may be a ble to seize possession of it. You should check with the court that issued the judgement.

Well, the business is solely in his name, and it is kind of business related because he borrowed the money to start that business in the first place.

Yes, I will sure check with the court about seizing possession of his personal vehicle.

Thanks.

Then you should have named the business in your original suit.

Threads merged. Please keep all follow-up in the same thread