[slynchan]

I need help on the best way to receive money owed to my husband. He was awarded 3500 +12 % interest almost a year ago. We have not received a penny. I want to know the best way to find out about assets she has, bank accounts, investments to put a lien on. It would be nice to know where she is employed as well.
How can I find this information out?
My husband also has a restituition case against her in the amount of 3000. She has to start paying 50.00 a month court ordered. We feel like she took a plea deal to drop 3 counts, spent 5 days in jail total, and stole roughly about 8500k in cash and personal property from him by doing check fraud, pawn shop fraud, and lying and saying an intruder came into the home and stole all his property while he was away on vacation. He came back to a false statement about a burglary, to thousands of dollars in personal property stolen, and three days later found three cashed fraudelent checks for 3000 signing his name to checks made out to her.

Not only did he lose all this, but when he realized it was her stealing from him looking online at his bank account he left work immediately and had to move ASAP. He lost his security deposit with her, two months of advanced rent he paid her, had to get a moving truck, take off 3 days from work, and find a new place to live and basically spent every penny of his savings to do all of this. Since he moved he hasn't received a penny back that he is out, has had to settle and was not entitled to loss wages, moving truck reimbursement, new security deposits to secure a new rental and is now owed only 6500.

After a year the court system will not be monitoring her. Her probation will be over and even though it was part of her plea deal they don't care. This woman is now a felon, only had to spend 5 days in jail, and has paid 40.00 in court fees after taking all of this from an innocent, honest, hard-working individual. Where is the justice? The civil and criminal system is a joke and I now see what we have so many criminals out there!

If anyone can help me I would really appreciate it. My husband works 60 hours a week, goes to school full-time, and works so very hard for our family to be taken like this.

Thank you for any advice you can give me.

[JudyKayTee]

Is the Court supposed to supervise/collect the restitution?

As far as where she works, information about her bank accounts, a licensed private investigator can locate this information (as well as other info) for you. You would request an asset check.

You can also - if you have an address for her - compel her to complete a financial information sheet (different names in different places), listing her assets.

[slynchan]

Judy,

The court will only watch her on the 2nd judgement and only till October, 2010. She has a payment plan of 50.00 a month, so if we are lucky we will see 850.00 out of the 3000dollars of the restituition. After October her probation is over regardless if she paid the full amount in full. :mad: I guess taking a plea deal to discharge 3 counts, pleading guilty to ONLY one count & agreeing to pay full restituition is besides the point these days in the criminal system :rolleyes:

Can I have her fill out a financial affidavit or something similar by filing paperwork with the courts on the 1st case judgement? I am in the process of recording my judgement with the superior courts.

Thanks!

[JudyKayTee]

What State? Let me - or someone else - look up the procedure.

[ScottGem]

Getting a judgement is often the easy part of a civil suit. Collecting is the hard part.

You basically have two choices here. You can ask the court to require that she complete a financial questionnaire listing employment, assets etc. Or you can hire a PI to track this down.

Aside to Judy, I think its WA state (see subject)

[slynchan]

It is in Washington. Can I file something with the courts after I certify my small claims judgement at the superior court?

[ScottGem]

I'm not sure why you have to "certify" your judgement. If you have a court paper awarding the judgement, you shouldn't need anything else.

You should, go back to the court that issued the judgement for an order of financial disclosure,

[JudyKayTee]

Perhaps it would help if I would actually read the entire question before responding.

Anyway, I do not find the procedure to obtain financial info following a Judgment in Washington on line. I do find the following: "If the court enters a judgment against either party, it is that party's duty to pay without delay. The small claims court does not collect the judgment for you. But if the judgment is not paid within 30 days, you can file a written request and pay a $6 fee to the district court to have the judgment recorded in the official records of the court. At that time, you can start trying to collect the judgment by garnishing wages or bank accounts, or trying to locate the personal property of the person who owes the judgment. You can also file the judgment in Superior Court for a fee of $15. This puts a lien against any real estate in the name of the person who owes the judgment."

If there IS no procedure to get financial information from the debtor I would suggest you have to spend the money to have a background check run, complete with whatever financial info is available.

I do note that the various Washington sites all advise retaining an Attorney. That is not the case in NY (where I am) but it makes me think the procedure in Washington might be very complicated.

[ScottGem]

OK, Judy's explanation answers why you are recording the judgement.

Another alternative to a PI is a collection agency. The problem is they may be very expensive (asking 23-33% of what they collect).

[JudyKayTee]

Right, collection agency could work. In my area - if the investigator has the appropriate resources - paying an investigator by the hour is a far cheaper method.