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Eastland County, Eastland, Texas

Eastland County

Texas Writs of Garnishment to Collect Judgment Liens from Eastland County, Texas

 

Busby & Associates is a legal firm that is skilled in providing services for defending, collecting, and enforcing judgments. Our main area of focus is garnishment of bank accounts and financial institutions, but we also offer legal support for consumer bankruptcy, family law, and divorce matters. We can assist both obligors and obligees with child support lien collections and defense, as well as domestication of foreign child support liens in Eastland County, Texas. If you are a judgment creditor who is struggling to collect a judgment from a debtor in Eastland County, Texas, contact us, and we will leverage our legal skills to help you recover your judgment.

Texas Judgment liens in Eastland County

When a judgment debtor possesses nonexempt real property in Eastland County, a properly recorded and indexed abstract of judgment can function as a lien on all such property. To create a lien, the abstract must be filed in each county where the debtor has property. The lien continues for ten years from the date of recordation and indexing, subject to the judgment not becoming dormant. A lien can only be established based on a final judgment, not an interlocutory one. However, even if a judgment is being appealed or a supersedeas bond has been filed, an abstract of judgment can still be filed. If a creditor establishes a lien before the appeal, it remains valid even if the judgment is affirmed. These rules only apply to Texas state trial court judgments. To establish a lien using the abstract of a judgment from another state or foreign country, the judgment must first be domesticated in Texas before an abstract can be filed.

Texas Abstract of Judgment

In Texas, abstracting a judgment involves following specific regulations. Typically, the abstract can be prepared by the judge, justice of the peace, clerk of the court, judgment creditor, agent, attorney, or assignee for judgments rendered in most courts, except for small claims and justice courts where the judgment creditor is not allowed to prepare their own abstract. It should be noted that abstracts of federal court judgments require certification from the clerk of the court. To abstract your judgment lien in Eastland County, Texas, you can visit the County Clerk’s office located at 100 W Main St # 102, Eastland, Texas 76448.

Contents

In Texas, a valid abstract of judgment must contain certain information, including the names of the plaintiff and defendant, the defendant’s birthdate (if available), the defendant’s driver’s license and social security numbers (if available), the suit number, the defendant’s address or citation information, the date the judgment was rendered, the amount of the judgment and balance due, any child support arrearage, and the interest rate. The abstract must also include the mailing address for each plaintiff or judgment creditor and be verified by the creditor’s attorney. Omitting the mailing address may result in a penalty filing fee. Unsworn declarations are not accepted.

 

Recordation of Judgment Liens Abstract

If the debtor owns real property in Eastland County, the abstract of judgment must be documented in that county. The Eastland County clerk receives the abstract and documents it in the county’s real property records, indicating the date and time of recording. Additionally, the clerk must include the abstract in the alphabetical index to the real property records, displaying the names of both the plaintiff and defendant and the page number where the abstract is recorded.

Abstracts of Domesticated Judgment Liens.

Judgments filed under the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act and the Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments Recognition Act have the same enforceability as judgments filed in the originating court. To domesticate a foreign judgment in Texas, the foreign judgment holder must fulfill the lien requirements.

Property To Which Lien Attaches Non-Exempt Real Property

The defendant’s nonexempt real property located in Eastland County, as recorded in the county, is subject to the judgment lien.

Keeping the Judgment and Judgment Lien Alive

1.      Non-governmental Judgments

Once an abstract of judgment is recorded and indexed, the judgment lien remains valid for 10 years, unless the judgment becomes dormant, which terminates the lien. Therefore, to maintain the judgment lien, it is necessary to keep the judgment active and obtain and record a new abstract of judgment. If a writ of execution is not issued within 10 years of the judgment’s creation, it becomes dormant, but it can be revived through scire facias or a debt action filed within two years of dormancy.

2.      State or State Agency Judgments.

Dormancy is not applicable to judgments made by the state or a state agency, which means they remain active and enforceable. Moreover, a valid abstract of judgment can establish a lien that lasts for 20 years from the date of filing, and the lien can be extended for another 20 years by filing a renewed abstract of judgment.

3.      Political Subdivisions.

While judgments of political subdivisions may become dormant under dormancy statutes, the political subdivision can revive the judgment at any time using the revival statute, Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 31.006. Therefore, the political subdivision can revive the judgment beyond the two-year dormancy period, and the statute of limitations will not bar it.

4.      Child Support Judgments.

Subsection (c) of § 34.001 of the Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code creates an exception for child support judgments from the dormancy statute and applies to all such judgments, irrespective of their date of entry.

Property Subject to and Exempt from Execution.

1.      Property Subject to Execution.

The execution has the power to seize the property of the judgment debtor unless it is protected by the constitution, statute, or any other legal rule. In most cases, the following categories of property are not protected: a. Cash on hand or in checking or savings accounts; b. Pleasure boats and their motors and trailers; c. Collections of items such as stamps, coins, etc.; d. Stocks, bonds, notes, and other investments; e. f. Airplanes. There is no protected property for corporations.

2.      Property Exempt from Execution.

Neither families nor single adults can have the following types of property seized: a) the homestead, b) personal property of specific categories with a total fair market value of up to $100,000 for families or $50,000 for single adults, c) current wages (excluding child support) and unpaid commissions for personal services, d) health aids prescribed by professionals, e) worker’s compensation payments, f) cemetery lots for sepulcher purposes, g) property previously sold, mortgaged or conveyed in trust, h) assets in a trustee’s spendthrift trust, i) certain insurance benefits, j) certain savings plans including retirement benefits and health savings plans, k) college savings plans, l) specific consigned artwork.

Eastland County

WRITS OF GARNISHMENT.

To ascertain if a third party owes any debts or property to the judgment debtor, a judgment creditor can use the post-judgment garnishment procedure. If any debts are identified, the creditor (garnishor) can obtain a garnishment judgment, requiring the third party (garnishee) to pay funds to the garnishor instead of the debtor.

Requirements to Issue

To use garnishment after obtaining a judgment, specific criteria must be met. Firstly, the creditor must possess a valid and subsisting judgment against the debtor, with the judgment being considered final and subsisting from the date of rendition. Secondly, the debtor must not have filed an approved supersedeas bond to prevent execution on the judgment. Finally, the creditor must attest that, based on their knowledge, the judgment debtor does not have adequate property in Texas that can be executed to satisfy the judgment.

Procedure for Securing Issuance Jurisdiction and parties

A post-judgment garnishment action is an independent legal suit from the main case it is intended to enforce. As an additional lawsuit, the third-party garnishee must be named as the defendant. It should be submitted in the same court that rendered the judgment to be collected, but under a different cause number.

Service of the writ of garnishment/notice to judgment debtor.

The garnishment action necessitates serving the garnishee with the writ of garnishment, and the judgment defendant’s involvement is not compulsory. However, the defendant must be served with a copy of the writ, application, affidavits, and court orders as soon as practical after the garnishee has been served. The copy of the writ served on the defendant must include the contents of the writ in bold 12-point typeface and in a manner that is understandable to a reasonably attentive person. Any judgment other than one that dissolves the writ will be invalidated if the judgment debtor does not receive property notice.

Banks as Garnishees for Writs of Garnishment

The delivery of garnishment writs to banks is subject to the address specified as the registered agent’s location in the financial institution registration statement under Section 201.102 or 201.103 of the Finance Code. Out-of-state financial institutions must file a registration application with the Secretary of State, complying with the state’s foreign corporation laws, which includes designating an agent for process under Section 201.102. Texas financial institutions may appoint an agent for process by submitting a statement to the Secretary of State under Section 201.103.

 

Officer’s Return.

To meet the citation requirements, the officer executing a writ of garnishment must file a return that satisfies them. Tex. R. Civ. P. 663 directs the judgment creditor to review the return before pursuing a garnishment judgment, especially in cases of default judgment. Returns in garnishment proceedings must adhere to the same regulations as citations in general. Courts have deemed returns to be fatally defective if they do not specify how and where a corporate garnishee was served.

Forms for the form and Practical Procedure

If you locate a bank account or other debt owed by the judgment debtor that can be garnished and determine that it is financially viable to do so, you must file an Application for Garnishment, accompanied by an affidavit signed by the judgment creditor’s attorney. The affidavit should contain necessary information such as the original suit and judgment details, the garnishee’s name and address for service, and any available account names and numbers.

Busby and Associates offers assistance for collecting Texas judgments on a contingency basis. For judgments from other states with the debtor located in Texas, they evaluate it on a case-by-case basis and may require a retainer. If the debtor and/or judgment is in Eastland County, they can help you garnish a bank account or financial institution to recover the judgment.

 

 

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Michael Busby is a Houston divorce lawyer who has been in practice for over 20 years and appears daily in the Family Law Courts of Harris County and Fort Bend County Texas

Busby & Associates , have two Houston Offices, one in Chinatown, Houston Texas and another in Independent Heights, Houston, Texas. Michael Busby is Board Certified in Family law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.