Legal Question in Construction Law in Mississippi

As a builder, how can I collect a debt?

My husband is a residential contractor. Last year, he built a custom home. The home ower was listed as ''builder on record''. My husband the ''supervisor''. We had a contract to build for 8% of cost. These people ended up closing on the property and owing my husband approx. $28,000 for his percentage and some bills my husband had paid for out of pocket. They had overextended and were out of money. We have filed a lean on the property, but is there not anything else we can do? They may live in this house 20 years for all we know. Seems like you can sue over anything these days, but my husband is convinced that all he could do was to file a lean.


Asked on 7/15/01, 12:16 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Patrick Tracy Patrick J. Tracy, Esq, P.E.,

Re: As a builder, how can I collect a debt?

I am not a member of the Mississippi Bar, thus I can only speak in general terms. You need to hire an attorney and obtain a judgement for the 28000.00. If the home owner is employed you can guarnish his wages. If he has a bank account you can satisfy a judgement from any account. This is probably a large enough sum for which he could be criminally liable under state fraud charges. Check with your local prosecutor about filing charges. This often quickly brings settlement of accounts.

Patrick Tracy

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Answered on 7/16/01, 1:23 pm


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