Yes.

It certainly is possible for someone who got a judgment against you to use that judgment to attach your refund. It would depend on the type of debt and the nature of the judgment as to how easy it might be.

It CAN be done if it is a judgement from a state or civil court, but it requires that the owner of the judgement petition the federal court, and THAT takes time.

If you file and get the refund before the process is complete, it's a moot point, because the IRS will NOT try to recover the refund once it is issued.

The judgement could be applied to refunds in future years until the jedgement is settled, but that is easily defeated by adjusting your withholding to eliminate the refund. For this reason, most creditor do NOT bother to go after the tax refunds.

Child support is a different matter, because that is a continual obligation that will not go away until the child turns 18, so most family courts aggresively pursue state and federal tax refunds as a matter of routine.