Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
Civil JUDGEMENT
My mother in law recently won a judgement against her daughter for the return of money her daughter had fraudulently stolen from her while she was staying with her after a hip surgery. She had convinced my mother-in-law to sign over some bank accounts and houses into her (daughter) and grandson's names. But even with an judgement in my mother-in-law's favor, HOW does she get anything if the daughter says she's spent all the money in the accounts($188,000)? My in-laws, logically, don't have any more money to pay for private investigators or attorney bills. The house will be signed back over to my mother-in-law but was this all the legal proceedings done in vain...court, etc. Isn't there anything that the court does to help out in seeing that the judgement is adherred to once they have rendered a decision? Or is it ''just a piece of paper''. It's very disappointing and frustrating. Are there attorney's that would take a case on contingency, like they would get a % of the money that they would be able to collect from the defendant? My in-laws need HELP!! No criminal charges have been filed yet. My mother-in-law is not in the best of health after all this.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Civil JUDGEMENT
A collection attorney can take a debtor's exam of her daughter and research assets. Usually, collection attorneys will take a percentage of the sums collected.
Remember, the judgment is good for ten years and can be renewed for another ten although I'm sure that they could use the money now. Why hasn't she reported the daughter to law enforcement? If convicted of a crime, she would be required to make restitution as part of her sentence.
Re: Civil JUDGEMENT
She doesn't. If there is no money left, there is no magic to make any appear for collection. The court is not there to help you collect, only to give you the 'paper' judgment. The only thing I can recommend is to hire an asset search firm to investigate if money has been put away; but if it is 'well hidden', you're never going to find it. The family and friends should be able to tell if she is spending money profligately. Unless there is money found and able to be seized, no attorney is going to be willing to waste time on this.
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