How Does One Assign Judgments?

If you have a large-sized judgment against a wealthy debtor that has not, and is not now attempting to hide their assets; it's fairly easy to locate a contingency collection lawyer. It is also easy to sell that kind of judgment situation for cash up-front, or to find a really good judgment recovery specialist.

When one has an average-sized judgment against an upper-middle class debtor who has concealed part of their assets, or is now trying to hide them, it can be fairly difficult to locate a contingency lawyer. If you do find one, they may work on a partial-contingency basis only, and you must pay the expenses.

When you have a judgment of any size on a poor judgment debtor; or a tiny to medium-sized judgment on a low to average-class judgment debtor; it will be impossible to find an attorney who works on any type of contingency arrangement.

If you can't, or choose not to hire an attorney to recover your judgment with a contingency basis; one has 4 options:

1) One may pay a lawyer by the hour, and for every expense, to try to recover a judgment, with no guarantee that you are not tossing in good money after bad.

2) You can sell a judgment for cash up-front, for an average of 1-7% of their face amount. In the crummy economy, when no judgment debtor assets are showing, the price is nearer to one percent. If the debtor is rich, you may get a higher cash upfront offer.

3) One can assign their judgment to a judgment enforcer, and get paid an average of fifty percent of the money they might recover from your debtor. The judgment enforcer takes over the risks of tossing in good money after bad. When the debtor is rich, you may find higher future-payment recovery rates.

4-A) When your judgment debtor is very broke, and/or the judgment is small; particularly in some counties and states, where laws don't permit the assignment of small claims judgments; you might never find an enforcer or a judgment buyer.

4-B) When one can't find a recovery specialist, (virtually no collection agency can help) try to settle with your judgment debtor for 20-40% of what is due. If that does not pay off, it is probably is a good idea to give up on the judgment, or sell the judgment for whatever you might get, maybe not even 1%.

For most judgment owners who cannot easily find the right contingency attorney; because of either the size of their judgment, or the circumstances of their debtor; will want to choose number 3 above, assigning their judgment to a judgment recovery specialist.

Many judgment enforcers aren't lawyers, which means they can't represent anyone except themselves in court, or give any legal advice, or assist anyone with any type of legal matter.

Anyone that isn't an attorney, can't work for others on any kind of legal matter, as an example, recovering a judgment on your behalf, or for you. This means that if the enforcer isn't an attorney, you must assign your judgment to them, before they can try to recover your judgment.

The assignment paperwork required to assign judgments (which must be notarized) usually has the wordings "assigning all rights, title, and interest in the judgment". Judgment enforcers have a fiduciary obligation to divide all recoveries made with you, as specified in your contract with them.

There can be a bit of a risk if one assigns a judgment to a recovery specialist. However, that potential risk is usually minimal for two reasons:

One reason is, if and when money is collected, it's enforced with permission from, and documentation by the court, and usually also with a civil Sheriff. It's very easy to track any progress (or more often a lack of progress) with any judgment enforcer.

The other reason that risks of judgment assignments are rarely a problem, is because in this economy, most judgments are never recovered. If the judgment can't be recovered, what risk was there in assigning your judgment?

Usually, assigning judgments is very safe. Using a judgment broker makes this even safer, as judgment brokers screen out most flakes and bad apples. Many times it is the only way to get any possibility of recovering some money out of a judgment.

http://www.JudgmentBuy.com - where Judgments and debts quickly get enforced by the best - expertly matched for free, to the debtor. Mark Shapiro, a expert on judgments. I pay for leads, and have the best no obligation free leads for collection agencies, enforcers, and contingency collection lawyers.

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