Presentation by Ken Stone

Many people who have not had the experience of being involved in litigation assume that when one person obtains a money judgment against the other, that the court requires the losing party to pay. That is not the case; judgments must be enforced by levy, execution or attachment of property belonging to the judgment debtor. This can be accomplished through a wage garnishment, placing a keeper in someone's business, or by executing against identifiable real or personal property. Discovering assets that a judgment debtor owns that are not a matter of public record is difficult because often times if a judgment creditor examines a judgment debtor (there is a procedure for this) and discovers personal property to execute on, the judgment debtor can transfer or conceal it before it can be attached.

Some judgment debtors make the mistake of transferring real property in anticipation of being sued or having a judgment entered against them. Often times this benefits the judgment creditor or the party who has filed the lawsuit because a transfer in fraud of creditors may allow the transferred property to be attached or liened before a judgment is even entered, when if the transfer had not occurred, a prejudgment attachment would not be possible.