I have a question about Small Claims Judgments. I received a Judgment against a client for childcare through the State of Michigan. I then was told that I needed to File for a Garnishment from either the income tax or workplace. I first chose the income tax... when I went to file, they said I would need his SSN. I could file an order to appear for the client to furnish. So, I filed a garnishment on his workplace. Since he worked for a casino, I had to file to accept a Foreign Judgment through the tribal court, then file the garnishment. I wanted to ask any of you if you have ever received a judgment in small claims court and have a difficult time collecting on that judgment?? It seems the courts protect the people that owe and keep collecting the petitioners money to keep filing forms and they are not allowed to give legal advise... It seems they are trying to make this drag on forever and discourage the person that is owed the money.

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I'm not sure about the laws in your state, but in Illinois you can garnish a bank account pretty easily. I keep copies of banking information from all my clients just in case I ever need it.

I can also file a copy of the judgment with the county recorder's office to place a lien against any property that they own so that they can't sell it without satisfying the judgment first. This also affects their credit.

I haven't had to collect a judgment for a very long time, but these used to be the two most effective methods I used.

Good luck.

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I have won in small claims but have never collected a dime so it has cost me even more. The advice I have been given is to turn it all over to a collections company and let them do the work. Supposedly they tack on 40% to what is due you and collect from the deadbeat what they can.

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Well, apparently these people were busted with operating a meth lab a few days ago, with the child in the house. the child was taken by the state and they are in jail. Now, he doesn't have a job and probably will be looking at a long long time in prison... habitual offender~sex offender, on and on! I doubt they have a bank account. They only had to pay $2 per week for child care as the state payed the rest... I originally had a bill for $8, then the mother left a message on my phone saying if I didn't stop with the bill, she would turn me into licensing for child abuse... she also called her caseworker & said that the child was not in my care so the state took 2 weeks care out of my pay after it was already billed. I called licensing that day and decided that I needed to enforce the payment agreement they signed. I recorded the message and after he stated in court they did not call, the judge wanted to hear the message. I did get satisfaction in that. The judgment was for a total of $368 after court costs & late fees. I think they are a lost cause and I can just have the satisfaction in knowing they will be in prison and the little boy will be in the care of his grandma. I am going to use all my court costs as a tax write off and never again take on state subsidy.

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For the first time ever, I have a parent that left owing me $45. I figured even if I bothered taking it to small claims, I wouldn't be able to collect. Single mom, no bank account, no property. I guess I could go after her tax refund, but why?

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Winning a judgment in court against a parent who owes you money does not necessarily mean you get your money, as you explain. Usually, when you file your judgment the sheriff's office can seize money from their bank accounts (one reason to write down the name of the bank and account number if the parent pays by check) or garnish their wages or put a lien on their home. When parents don't have bank accounts or a job, then collecting will be extremely difficult. Usually, judgments are good for 10 years, so you can revisit this later.

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