Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Oklahoma

Re: Filing for a foreign judgement

You do not have to re-present your case. Under the full faith and credit clause of the United States Consitution Oklahoma must honor the judgment rendered in Arkansas. To execute on an Arkansas judgment in Oklahoma you must register the judgment in Oklahoma.

To do this is fairly simple. First you wait for the appeals time to expire. Then you go to the county in which you want to execute the judgment and "register" it there. There is a fairly uniform process by which you file a petition to enroll the judgment which will give it the same effect as if it were rendered by the Oklahoma court. The defendant is given a period of time to respond. The only issue is whether the Arkansas judgment is vaild. Once the judgment is enrolled you can then execute on it as you see fit.

It sounds simple. For the most part it is, however, there are a lot of pitfalls to be wary of. You should seek out an attorney to help you with this. An attorney can help you get local counsel in Oklahoma and guide you through the process and help you make strategic decisions and answer questions you do not have the experience even to ask.

If I can be of further assistance to you, please do not hesitate to call me 901.527.5522 or e-mail me. Good Luck.