Articles Posted in Bankruptcy & Creditor Rights

By Stephen J. Muhonen, Creditor’s Rights / Collections Attorney, Racine Olson, PLLP

Congratulations!  You won your court case and now have a money judgment entered in your favor.  All of that time, effort, emotional energy, attorney fees and costs incurred, and just the drain of the process has finally funneled to a conclusion where a court has concluded you are entitled to money from the adverse party.  It’s a great day! Or is it?  You or your attorney have approached the liable party for payment, but they won’t pay.  All of that time, effort, money and energy spent for what?  How are you going to get them to pay up?

Judgment Creditors in Idaho have multiple resources to draw upon in attempt to satisfy their judgment when insurance resources are not available.  Those options include:

By Joseph G. Ballstaedt

When deciding whether to sue a person or entity, you must be aware that the person or entity may not be able to pay a judgment awarded by a court or may be able to avoid paying the judgment, even if it has the means to pay. A resounding victory in court is utterly worthless if the opposing party is “judgment proof” because it has no assets, little equity in a home or other real property, minimal personal property, no job or source of income, etc. Similarly, even if a party has enough assets to satisfy the judgment, it can hide the assets. Also, a party can file for bankruptcy and be discharged from many of its debts, including most types of civil judgments, leaving a party to fight in bankruptcy proceedings for recovery. Many parties use the threat of bankruptcy as leverage to attain a favorable settlement agreement outside of court.

However, although parties who go bankrupt t are ones that will likely have difficulty finding funds to repay debts, bankruptcy does not legally free a party from all debts and civil judgments. Federal law explains that a bankruptcy does not discharge certain debts, including but not limited to debts for: