Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Texas

Check the judgment carefully: Were you actually ORDERED to pay?

In Texas, there is no imprisonment for debt (unless it's child support).

The judgment creditor can cause an abstract of judgment to be issued and recorded here in your county. This operates to create a judgment lien against any non-homestead real estate that you own. He can also record the abstract in any other county where he believes you own real property.

He has the option of having the sheriff attempt to levy on any non-exempt property that you might own (this is done under a writ of execution); however, most people in Texas are "judgment-proof" under the exemption laws. This means, basically, that they are able to show that each and every item of property they own falls into one of the categories of exempt property listed in the exemption statutes. An execution would cost approximately $58.00, including the service fee. You can read sections 42.002 and 42.0021 of the Texas Property Code regarding exemptions.

In Texas, wages cannot be garnished for an unpaid debt except (1) by the IRS or (2) to satisfy a child support obligation or (3) to collect a student loan.

The judgment creditor can engage in post-judgment discovery in an attempt to discover what assets you might have that could be seized by the sheriff and sold to satisfy the judgment.

Bank accounts can be garnished under Texas law; the judgment creditor must first find out where you bank, and then determine whether or not you have enough money in the account(s) to justify the expense of the garnishment. Court costs for a garnishment are approximately $100.00 (plus whatever the attorney charges). Also, since the garnishment is actually a lawsuit against the bank by the creditor in judgment, the bank is entitled to recover attorney's fees (usually $150.00-$400.00) incurred by its attorney in "defending" the bank against the garnishment. In most cases, unless it can be verified that the debtor has at least $1,000.00 on deposit at the bank, garnishment is unwarranted.