Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Missouri

Re: How do I execute a judgment?

My friend, there is probably no place that explains it well. A garnishment can be against anyone who owes the person you have the judgment against, or holds money for him. So, for example, if you know where he does his banking, you can garnish his checking account and savings account for the money. The process is somewhat complex. You go to the court and you ask the forms room (I think its on the 3rd Floor in Jackson County) for "interrogatories to Garnishee." You fill in the information and you take it to the clerk and you pay the service fee to have it served on the bank/savings institution. Usually that's about 30 bucks. The bank will have 30 days to respond to the interrogatories and they will be required to tell how much money is in the account. YOu can then seek a "pay in order" which the judge issues to the bank requiring the bank to pay the amount of the judgment, or whatever amount is in the account (if less than the full judgment) into the registry of the court. After it is paid in, you request a pay out order, and the money is then paid out to you by check from the Court.

Garnishment of wages is done in much the same way. Keep in mind it may take multiple garnishments to get the amount collected, and you have to do a new one every 90 days or so. If you check the local rules they will advise you on this.

You can find out where someone works usually by simply calling their neighbors. "Hey, do you know X, who lives at XXX?" When they say yes, you say "where does he work, I want to send him flowers on father's day." THey will usually tell you. Then you garnish them.

You can go to the Dept of Rev and find out if they own a vehicle or have one titled. If they do, you can send the sheriff to execute on the vehicle and sell the vehicle on the courthouse steps for whatever he can get for it. Of course, if the bank has a note on it, this won't help you much.

If your judgment is from Associate Circuit Court you can get it certified to Circuit Court and have it established as a lien against any property the person may have in their name.

Keep in mind you can't garnish a bank account that gets deposits from Social Security. You also may not be able to garnish more than 25% of a person's wages. But you can always get anything in a bank account, but keep in mind that if your judgment is against Mr. X only, and Mr. & Mrs. X hold a joint bank account, in most cases you can't garnish the joint account.

The simplest thing for you to do, however, is to turn the matter over to Kramer and Frank in KC (debt Collection attorneys) and let them get your money for you.

Good luck.

Re: How do I execute a judgment?

The place it getws explained the best is in your attorney's office. If you need assistance, you can contact me or any of the other collection attorneys in town

Good Luck