Judgment Debtors - An Overview

I am not an attorney, I am a judgment expert. This article is my opinion, and not legal advice. If you ever need a strategy to use or legal advice, you should contact an attorney.

What is a judgment debtor? Judgment debtors are an entity or a person, that was named or involved in a lawsuit, that was judged to owe a debt after a final judgment.


When a judgment is vacated or satisfied, then the entity or person is no longer a judgment debtor, at least for that specific judgment.

Most often, judgment debtors were defendants in a lawsuit. Note that occasionally the judgment debtor started as the plaintiff; and at the hearing, the judge adjudicate that the original defendant owes nothing and the plaintiff is now the judgment debtor, who now owes a debt to the defendant.

A person (or entity) can become a judgment debtor after many kinds of court judgments from civil or criminal courts.

Many kinds of courts can make judgment debtors, including divorce, criminal restitution, small claims, limited and unlimited civil, bankruptcy, federal, municipal, justice, district, and circuit.

Different than a debtor having a claim against them, judgment debtors have judgments against them. The disputable claim has transformed into a judgment. After a debtor is sued, and a court orders a judgment against them, their debt gets decided with a judge's final decision, to make a judgment debtor.

Only judgments from a court can make actual judgment debtors. UCC liens, and any other kind of debt or financing statements alone, cannot create judgment debtors.

Becoming a judgment debtor is quite common, and being a judgment debtor has not been a stigma socially for many decades. Many laws protect a judgment debtor. One example is with few exceptions, creditors may not tell people about a judgment debtor's debts.

The courts, media, society, and laws; all act as if judgment debtors are now victims, and that creditors not any different, and often evil compared to judgment debtors. What should be kept in mind is that most judgment debtors either stole something or money, received unjust enrichment, damaged property, defrauded someone, injured an entity, etc.

When you are a judgment debtor, you might have a few choices. Laws make it relatively difficult and expensive to enforce judgments, and one choice is to sometimes temporarily, ignore judgments.

If one is poor, disregarding judgments might be reasonable, as only a judgment debtor's income streams or assets can be garnished to recover a judgment. However, not paying a judgment or arranging a modest repayment plan, could expose you to unexpected and sometimes repeated wage or bank levies.

When the amount owed on a judgment is not huge, it may end up easier and cheaper, to simply pay what is owed, in exchange for a notarized judgment satisfaction that must be stamped by a court.

As a judgment debtor, you can try to settle with the judgment creditor, perhaps reaching a settlement with them.

Particularly when judgments are new, some creditors think that their judgments are guaranteed, and will never settle them for nothing less than every dollar due, and the interest and court-approved costs.

Most often, judgments eventually expire. However, in most states, a tenacious judgment owner might renew their judgment "forever".

Sometimes a judgment creditor will not give up, and hires a collection attorney, or assigns their judgment to a judgment recovery expert. Experts are experts in finding a judgment debtor's assets, and then paying a sheriff to garnish them, to satisfy their judgment.

If a judgment debtor has assets and a determined creditor or enforcer is constantly attempting to have a Sheriff levy their bank accounts, wages, and property; being a judgment debtor is "exciting".

The two most common ways that judgment debtors can thwart paying a judgment, is either if they win an attempt to vacate a default judgment, or with bankruptcy protection.

For judgment debtors, satisfying judgments, by reaching an agreement with the judgment owner, or someone owning the judgment, often is be a smart decision.

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