Abstracting Judgments

Maximizing Your Revenue Stream

Minimizing Your Legal Costs

Abstracting

Judgment

Once you get a judgment, unless the other side is immediately going

to pay it, you should

immediately file the abstract the judgment. Another term for this action is 'recording the judgment'. While the judgment is technically a court record and also an official public document, it is not the central storage location where future creditors, lenders, and purchasers from the debtor check. To officially put future creditors, lenders, and purchasers on notice of your claim(s) against the debtor's property, you have to record the judgment with the county clerk's property records. Normally this is done via a request directly to the judgment court. You should also abstract the judgment in any other outside county in which you believe the debtor owns property.

One of the first abstracts of Judgment - Oracular judgment of Seth Limestone stela recording a series of oracles delivered by the god Seth to settle a land dispute involving a priest of Seth, Nesubast,dated to the 5th year of the reign of Sheshonq, First king of the ‘Libyan' 22nd Dynasty (about 940 BCE).

Once filed, most creditors, lenders, and purchasers to the debtor in that county will insist that the judgment be paid off before conducting any transaction with the debtor. (Otherwise, they may be subject to the claim themselves.)

The abstract is effective as notice until the judgment is released. But it should be noted that it does not, in and of itself, keep the judgment active and enforceable. For that, the judgment creditor (judgment holder) must attempt to execute on the judgment once every ten years. (See Execution of Judgment).

JH&A attorneys take care of making sure an abstract of judgment is filed as a routine practice on collection cases.