I've been awarded from the courts (judgement) money owed to me (is not a small claim issue). The individual is a private contractor (self-employed). How do I go about getting this money paid back to me (garnishment of wages, collection agency, etc.)

Ahh there is the Catch-22 of getting a judgement. You have to find assets of this person. Bank accounts.personal assets etc. I gather the judgement was against him individually, not as a contractor. If so, that would preclude going after assets registered to his business. You may have to hire a PI to find his assets.

Ahh there is the Catch-22 of getting a judgement. You have to find assets of this person. Bank accounts.personal assets etc. I gather the judgement was against him individually, not as a contractor. If so, that would preclude going after assets registered to his business. You may have to hire a PI to find his assets.


Thanks Scott for responding - I do have all that information - he has forwarded his home and (which he lives in) and his checking accounting to another individual. Am I able to go after that person??

I don't know what you mean by "forwarded his home and account". Do you mean that he has changed them to another person's name? If you have proof that he did this recently, you can go back to the court and ask that they grant an order to attach those assets because he's trying to hide them from the judgement. But unless a court agrees, then you can't touch them since they are in someone else's name.

I am a licensed private investigator and can give you advise or help.

Is the debtor an individual or corporation? What state are you in? How do you know the debtor "Forwarded" (Transfered?) his home and account? What documents have been recorded on the property?

You can not garnish wages, you said he was self employed.

Bank accounts are always the best asset to go after, but you need to know what your doing. If you serve the account the day the balance is $5.00 then you get to collect the $5.00 and you just notified the debtor, who will go into hiding even deeper.


If you sued the corp, then the second best bet is to locate, identify and seize business equipment, vehicles, etc. How does he operate his business? What equipment does he own? Try checking public records for a recent UCC filing which may reveal something.

Its also possible to levy on his receivables, who does he do business with?

You really should have professional help. There are many investigators, myself included who recovery judgments on contingency, usually 30-40% of what's recovered.

Others, including myself, will charge anywhere from $250 to $1500 for a good, comprehensive asset report.

If he transferred his bank account and property to another person, to hide the debt, this is actually a criminal act in many states, and if you go back to civil court and prove this is what he did, you can be allowed to still go after that money and property.

If in the US, the state you live in has rules on attaching bank accounts, you can not garnish pay from a self employed person, since they have no pay check.

But as Scott said, first many states don't allow garnishment or attachment of bank accounts, so if you live in one of those you are sort of out of luck,
In other staes there are many rules.

A large amount of judgements never get collected.