Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Texas
Debt collection from abroad.
My brother in law lives in Mexico and he is a silver jewlery maker. He sells his jewerly to wholesellers in Houston. The agreement is verbal, and he ship the merchandise from Mexico, and the client pick it up from the border and make all the importation paperwork. My brother has not papers or contract signed. Now the client sold the store and the new owner bought the store (without debts) as he stated. How can my brother collect the debt? Is there a procedure, legal threath or strategy to collect the debt? The amount of the debt is: $21,000 dlls. Please advice.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Debt collection from abroad.
It will be very difficult, since the new owner isn't liable for earlier debts as a general rule. Your brother would have to sue the original owner, wherever he may be, and rely upon the import papers to show the goods, and his testimony to prove up the values. Collecting upon the judgment would be harder still, since Texas is a haven for individual debtors.
However it may be worth talking to the new ownerm and see if he's paying off the prior owner over a period of time. If so, you may be able to trap those funds after judgment.