Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in New York
Outstanding Judgement
How long will a judgement against an existing corporation survive without collection attempts? Does it have to be renewed? If yes, after how many years? What happens if the creditor is no longer in business? Thank you.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Outstanding Judgement
judgments "last" for 20 years and may be renewed prior to their expiration. If the judgment debtor is a corporation, and the corporation is defunct, your judgment is worthless. You may have rights as against the principals of the corporation if you can demonstrate that they ran the corporation for their own personal benefit and not the benefit of the corporation itself. The point there is that IF the court agrees with your theory, ie, that the corporation was used by the principals to avoid payments to creditors, you might get a judgment against the individuals who owned the corporation. Not a simple task.