Texas Writs of Garnishment to Collect Judgment Liens from Baylor County, Texas
If you’re a judgment creditor who is struggling to collect from a debtor in Baylor County, Texas, Busby & Associates can help. We are experienced in all areas of judgments, including defense, collection, and enforcement. Our primary focus is on garnishing bank accounts and financial institutions, but we also provide support for consumer bankruptcy, family law, and divorce matters, for both obligors and obligees under child support liens. Additionally, we can assist with the domestication of foreign child support liens in the State of Texas. Give us a call and we’ll guide you through the process and help you collect your judgment when your debtor lives in Baylor County, Texas.
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Texas Judgment liens
The lien established by a properly recorded abstract of judgment acts as a claim on all the judgment debtor’s exempt real property in Baylor County. The lien is established by the appropriate filing and indexing of the abstract of judgment, and must be filed in each county where the lien is intended to be fixed. This lien remains valid for ten years from the date of recording and indexing, provided the judgment does not become inactive. To be eligible to create a lien, the judgment must be a final, non-interlocutory judgment. Although a final judgment may be appealed or a supersedeas bond may have been filed, filing an abstract on a final judgment will not affect the lien if proper steps have been taken by the judgment creditor to secure the lien. These rules apply only to Texas state trial court judgments, and not to the enforcement of judgments from other states or foreign jurisdictions, for which domestication in Texas is first necessary before a lien can be established and the judgment abstracted.
Texas Abstract of Judgment
In Texas, the process of preparing an abstract of judgment can be done by either a judge, justice of the peace, clerk of the court, or the judgment creditor’s agent, attorney, or assignee. However, this does not apply to small claims and justice courts, where the judgment creditor is not permitted to prepare their own abstract. It is imperative to note that the certificate from the clerk of the court is required for abstracts of federal court judgments. In Baylor County, Texas you would abstract your judgment lien at the County Clerk’s office located at 01 S Washington St, Seymour, Texas 76380.
Contents
To be valid, a Texas abstract of judgment must have the following information: (1) the names of the plaintiff and defendant; (2) the defendant’s birthdate, if known to the clerk of justice; (3) the final three digits of the defendant’s driver’s license number, if available; (4) the final three digits of the defendant’s social security number, if available; (5) the suit number in which the judgment was rendered; (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. It is also important to note that the abstract must include the mailing address for each plaintiff or judgment creditor, or a penalty fee will be imposed. Additionally, the abstract prepared by the creditor’s attorney must be verified and unsworn declarations are not acceptable.
Recordation
Recording the abstract of judgment in Baylor County (where the debtor holds real property) is the responsibility of the county clerk. This includes filing it in the Baylor County’s real property records, noting the date and time of recordation, and adding the names of all parties involved in the judgment and the page number in the records where the abstract is recorded to the alphabetical index of the real property records.
Abstracts of Domesticated Judgments.
In accordance with the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act and the Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments Recognition Act, foreign judgments are enforceable as if they were filed in the court where they were granted. This applies to the holder of the foreign judgment seeking to domesticate it in Texas, who must also fulfill the lien requirements as per these acts.
Property to Which Lien Attaches Non-Exempt Real Property
The judgment lien is placed on all non-exempt real property that the defendant owns in Baylor County; the county where it was recorded.
Keeping the Judgment and Judgment Lien Alive
- Non-governmental Judgments
The lien established by a judgment continues for 10 years after recording and indexing, unless the judgment becomes dormant. To keep the lien, it is necessary to both maintain the judgment 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 before the second anniversary of the judgment getting dormant.
- State or State Agency Judgments.
State or state agency judgments do not become inoperative and a properly filed abstract of judgment creates a lien that can be enforced for 20 years from the date of filing. The lien can be extended for another 20-year period by filing a renewed abstract of judgment, ensuring the judgment remains valid and enforceable over time.
- Political Subdivisions.
As per the dormancy statutes, judgments rendered by political subdivisions may become inactive. Nevertheless, the statute of limitations in Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 31.006 does not apply to the revival of these judgments. Therefore, they can be reactivated at any time, regardless of the dormancy period.
- Child Support Judgments.
Subsection (c) of § 34.001 of the Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code specifically excludes 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 taking the property of the judgment debtor, unless it is protected by constitutional, statutory, or other legal exemptions. Typically, cash, boats, collections, financial instruments, and airplanes are not considered exempt property. However, corporations have no property that is considered exempt from execution.
- Property Exempt from Execution.
Both families and single adults have certain property that is protected from execution, which includes: the primary residence, personal property up to a value of $100,000 for families and $50,000 for single adults as outlined in law, current wages earned for personal services (excluding child support payments), unpaid commissions for personal services not exceeding 25% of the $50/$100,000 aggregate limit, health aids prescribed by a professional, worker’s compensation payments, cemetery plots held for sepulcher, property that the debtor has sold, mortgaged, or transferred in trust if the buyer, mortgagee, or trustee can provide alternative property to satisfy the execution, assets held in a spendthrift trust for the benefit of the judgment debtor, certain insurance benefits, certain savings plans such as retirement benefits and health savings plans, college savings plans, and consigned artwork.
WRITS OF GARNISHMENT
By using post-judgment garnishment, a judgment creditor can examine the connection between the judgment debtor and a third party to see if there are any funds or assets the third party owes to the judgment debtor. If so, the creditor can receive a garnishment judgment ordering the third party to pay the funds to the creditor instead of the judgment debtor.
Requirements to Issue
Garnishment can take place if the following are true: a) The creditor holds a final and subsisting judgment against the debtor, b) The debtor has not taken steps to suspend execution of the judgment through an approved supersedeas bond, and c) The creditor swears that, as far as they know, the judgment debtor does not have in their possession in Texas enough property that can be taken to pay off the judgment.
Procedure for Securing Issuance Jurisdiction and parties
A post-judgment garnishment action is a distinct process from the main lawsuit. The garnishment action is supplementary to the main suit and should be brought against the third-party garnishee as the defendant. The court that made the judgment to be collected should receive the post-judgment garnishment application. For example, if the original suit was filed in the 245th judicial district court of Baylor County, Texas, the garnishment application must be filed in Baylor County in that same court, but with a different cause number.
Service of the writ of garnishment/notice to judgment debtor.
The writ of garnishment must be served on the garnishee, while the judgment defendant is not a required party in the garnishment action. However, 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. Additionally, the copy of the writ served on the defendant must include, in 12-point type, and in a way that is clear to a reasonable person, the contents of the writ. Failure to give notice to the judgment debtor will make any judgment, other than one dissolving the writ, void.
Banks as Garnishees
In accordance with the Section 201.102 and 201.103 of the Finance Code, the address of the registered agent of a financial institution, as listed in its registration statement filed with the Secretary of State, must be used when serving writs of garnishment on garnishee banks. Section 201.102 applies to out-of-state financial institutions, which must register with the Secretary of State and appoint an agent for the process, while Section 201.103 applies to 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 responsible for implementing a writ of garnishment must file a return. It is important for the judgment creditor to examine the return carefully, especially if it is a default judgment, before proceeding with a garnishment judgment. The rules for citations also apply to returns in garnishment proceedings. In the past, returns have been found to be defective for not specifying the way in which a corporate garnishee was served and the location of service.
Forms for the form and Practical Procedure
The first step in garnishing a bank account or other debt is to locate the account and confirm that there are sufficient funds to make the process cost-effective. Once this is established, an Application for Garnishment must be filed along with a supporting affidavit. The affidavit, typically signed by the attorney for the judgment creditor, should contain the following information: a. Information about the original suit and judgment, including credits applied to the judgment; b. Correct garnishee name, representatives appointed for service, and address for service of documents, and c. any relevant account names and numbers if possible.
Busby and Associates maybe able to help you collect your judgment on a contingency basis if said judgment is from Texas. Judgments from other states wherein the judgment debtor is in Texas are looked at on a case-by-case basis for which some retainer is typically required. Busby and associates can help you garnishment a bank account of financial institution if the Judgment debtor and/or the judgment is in Baylor County.
