Texas Writs of Garnishment to Collect Judgment Liens in Bailey County, Texas
If you’re a judgment creditor who is having a hard time collecting from a debtor, Busby & Associates can assist. We’re equipped to handle all aspects of judgments, including defense, collection, and enforcement. Our primary area of expertise is garnishing bank accounts and financial institutions, but we also assist clients in consumer bankruptcy, family law, and divorce matters, for both obligors and obligees under child support liens. Additionally, we can help with the domestication of foreign child support liens in the State of Texas. Give us a call and we’ll help you understand the process and take action to collect your judgment when the debtor resides in Bailey County, Texas.
Texas Judgment liens
A judgment lien is created by properly recording and indexing an abstract of judgment in the Bailey County, which applies to all non-exempt real property of the judgment debtor within that county. The lien lasts for ten years, unless the judgment becomes dormant. To be valid for a judgment lien, the underlying judgment must be final and not interlocutory. Even if the judgment is under appeal, a lien can still be established before the appeal. It’s crucial to note that these rules only apply to Texas state trial court judgments and not to judgments from other states or foreign countries, which must first be domesticated in Texas to create a lien.
Texas Abstract of Judgment
In Texas, the process of creating an abstract of judgment can be done by a judge, justice of the peace, clerk of the court, or by the judgment creditor’s agent, attorney, or assignee. This rule does not apply to small claims and justice courts, where the judgment creditor is not permitted to prepare their own abstract. Additionally, abstracts of federal court judgments must have certification from the court’s clerk.
Contents
A Texas abstract of judgment must have the following information to be considered valid: (1) the names of the plaintiff and defendant; (2) the defendant’s birthdate, if obtainable by the clerk of justice; (3) the last three digits of the defendant’s driver’s license number, if obtainable; (4) the last three digits of the defendant’s social security number, if obtainable; (5) the suit number in which the judgment was granted; (6) the defendant’s address or, if not listed in the suit, the citation’s details and the date and location of service; (7) the date of judgment; (8) the amount of the judgment and the remaining balance; (9) any outstanding child support arrearage; (10) the interest rate specified in the judgment. Additionally, it is important to note that the abstract must include the mailing address for each plaintiff or judgment creditor, or a penalty fee will be imposed. Furthermore, the abstract prepared by the creditor’s attorney must be verified and declarations that are not sworn are unacceptable.
Recordation
In Bailey County (where the debtor owns real property), the abstract of judgment must be recorded by the county clerk. This includes filing it in the Bailey County’s real property records, noting the date and time of recordation, and including the names of all parties involved in the judgment, as well as the page number in the records where the abstract is recorded, in the alphabetical index of the real property records. You would want to record your judgment with the Bailey County’s Clerk who address is 300 South 1st Street, Suite #200 Muleshoe, Texas 79347.
Abstracts of Domesticated Judgments.
The Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act and the Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments Recognition Act dictate that judgments filed under these acts are enforceable as if they were filed in the court where they were granted, this applies to foreign judgment holder domesticating the judgment in Texas as well as the lien requirements.
Property to Which Lien Attaches Non-Exempt Real Property
All of the defendant’s real property that is not exempt in Bailey County (the county of recordation) is subject to the judgment lien.
Keeping the Judgment and Judgment Lien Alive
- Non-governmental Judgments
A judgment lien continues for a period of 10 years after its recording and indexing, unless the judgment becomes dormant. To preserve the lien, it’s necessary to both keep the judgment active and record a new abstract of judgment. A judgment becomes dormant if a writ of execution is not issued within 10 years of its rendition. The dormant judgment can be brought back to life by either scire facias or by filing an action of debt within two years of the judgment becoming dormant.
- State or State Agency Judgments.
A state or state agency’s judgment remains enforceable through a lien for a period of 20 years from the date of filing an abstract of judgment, which can be extended for an additional 20 years by submitting a renewed abstract of judgment.
- Political Subdivisions.
The dormancy statutes state that judgments made by political subdivisions may become dormant. But, the statute of limitations outlined in Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 31.006 does not apply to these judgments, meaning they can be revived at any point, not just within two years of dormancy.
- Child Support Judgments.
Subsection (c) of § 34.001 of the Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code exempts child support judgments from the dormancy statute, and applies to all child support judgments.
Property Subject to and Exempt from Execution.
- Property Subject to Execution.
Execution can be used to collect on a judgment by seizing the property of the judgment debtor, unless it is protected by constitutional, statutory, or other legal exemptions. Common examples of non-exempt assets include cash, pleasure boats, collections, financial investments, and airplanes. Importantly, corporations do not have any property that is exempt from execution.
- Property Exempt from Execution.
Property exempt from execution for both families and single adults includes: the homestead, personal property up to a value of $100,000 for families and $50,000 for single adults as specified by law, current wages for personal services (excluding child support), unpaid commissions for personal services not exceeding 25% of the $50/$100,000 limit, health aids prescribed by a professional, worker’s compensation payments, cemetery lots, property sold, mortgaged, or conveyed in trust if the buyer, mortgagee, or trustee can provide alternative property to satisfy the execution, assets in the hands of a spendthrift trust for the judgment debtor’s benefit, certain insurance benefits, certain savings plans such as retirement benefits and health savings plans, college savings plans, and consigned artwork.
WRITS OF GARNISHMENT
With the post-judgment garnishment process, a judgment creditor can look into any connections between a debtor and a third party to determine if there are any funds or property owed to the debtor. If such funds or assets are found, the creditor can then obtain a garnishment judgment, directing the third party to pay them to the creditor instead of the debtor.
Requirements to Issue
In order for garnishment to occur, the following conditions must be met: a) The creditor has obtained a valid and subsisting judgment against the debtor, b) The debtor has not filed an approved bond to suspend execution of the judgment, and c) The creditor confirms that, to their knowledge, the debtor does not possess sufficient property in Texas that can be used to pay off the judgment.
Procedure for Securing Issuance Jurisdiction and parties
A post-judgment garnishment action is distinct from the main lawsuit it is intended to enforce. The garnishment action is considered to be supplementary to the main suit and should be brought against the third-party garnishee as the defendant. The application for post-judgment garnishment should be filed in the same court that issued the judgment to be collected. For example, if the original suit was filed in the 245th judicial district court of Bailey County, Texas, the garnishment action should also be filed in Bailey County, but under a different cause number.
Service of the writ of garnishment/notice to judgment debtor.
The writ of garnishment is to be served on the garnishee, while the judgment defendant is not a required party in the garnishment action. Nevertheless, they must be given a copy of the writ, the application, accompanying affidavits, and court orders as soon as possible after the writ is served on the garnishee. Furthermore, the copy of the writ served to the defendant must be in 12-point type, and written in a way that is easily understandable to a reasonably attentive person. If proper notice is not given to the judgment debtor, any judgment except for one that dissolves the writ will be void.
Banks as Garnishees
The Finance Code requires that writs of garnishment served on garnishee banks be delivered to the address of the registered agent of the financial institution, as listed in the registration statement filed with the Secretary of State. This applies to both out-of-state financial institutions, which must comply with the laws of this state for foreign corporations doing business in this state, and Texas financial institutions, which may file a statement with the Secretary of State appointing an agent for the process.
Officer’s Return.
The Tex. R. Civ. P. 663 states that the officer executing a writ of garnishment must file a return. Before obtaining a garnishment judgment, particularly in case of default judgment, the judgment creditor should thoroughly examine the return. The rules for citations are also applicable to returns in garnishment proceedings. In the past, returns have been deemed invalid for not mentioning the manner of service on a corporate garnishee and the place of service.
Forms for the form and Practical Procedure
Before garnishing a bank account or other debt, the location of the account must be identified and it must be determined that there are enough funds to make the process cost-effective. To initiate the process, an Application for Garnishment must be filed, accompanied by a supporting affidavit. The affidavit, usually signed by the attorney representing the judgment creditor, should include: a. Information about the original suit and judgment, including credits applied to the judgment; b. The correct name of the garnishee and the names and addresses of officers for service; and c. Account names and numbers, if available.
Busby and Associates can help you collect your Texas judgment and garnish a bank account or financial institution within Bailey County; the county of the judgment debtor. Judgments from other states where the debtor is located in Texas will be evaluated individually, and may require a retainer.
