Civil court may seem like the perfect venue for settling differences between two parties. In the absence of any other means of settling the issue amicably, civil court certainly is a better option then taking the law into one’s own hands. But it is important to know the #1 rule of civil judgments: there are no guarantees.

Civil courts do not render guilty or not-guilty verdicts. Rather, civil courts determine liability. Their decisions are known as judgments. Sometimes, judgments include a financial component. But just because a money judgment is rendered against one party does it mean the other party will ever collect what it is owed.

This is the dirty little secret of civil court. Once a judgment is rendered, the court steps back and leaves enforcement to the parties involved. I will use the example of a money judgment to illustrate how all this works.

A Landlord Successfully Sues a Tenant

For my example, I will rely on a landlord who successfully sues a tenant for back rent. The tenant has already been evicted and has moved on. He still owes a significant amount of money, plus interest and court fees.

Winning the case established legal recognition of the tenant’s debt. It also gave the landlord a legal right to collect the debt using whatever means are allowed by state law. But the court will not step in and forcibly extract money from the debtor. It is up to the landlord and tenant to work out how payment will be made.

Do you see where this is going? The tenant has obviously failed to cooperate all along. That is why he owes back rent. How likely is he to cooperate with collection efforts after the fact?

The Landlord’s Options

Assuming the tenant fails to cooperate, the landlord is left with plenty of questions. How is he going to collect? What can he do to collect quickly? Is there a possibility that he will never get paid?

Winning a court case does not guarantee successful collection of all the back rent. But the landlord does have options. One that I would recommend is bringing in a collection agency that specializes in money judgments. Salt Lake City-based Judgment Collectors is one such agency.

Judgment Collectors utilizes tools, technologies, and expertise to track down and make contact with judgment debtors. They also know how to use the tools at their disposal to encourage payment. Knowing what I know about judgment collection, I would never try to manage it on my own. I would bring in Judgment Collectors or a similar agency.

Enforcement Mechanisms

Whether the landlord brings in a collection agency or attempts to collect on his own, he needs to be aware of the enforcement mechanisms at his disposal. There are quite a few. However, enforcement mechanisms vary from one state to the next.

Here are some examples:

• Garnishment – Both wages and bank accounts can be garnished in most states. Garnishment compels an employer or bank to withhold a certain amount of the debtor’s funds and forward them to the creditor.

• Property Liens – Creditors can place property liens on debtor assets in most states. A lien could be placed on a vacation or investment property, for example.

• Seizure – Even seizing and selling property is not out of the question. It is considered a mechanism of last resort, but it is effective.

Despite the options and enforcement mechanisms available to judgment creditors, there are never any guarantees. And in fact, most judgments rendered in the U.S. Are never paid. It’s the nature of the beast.