Has anybody actually seen money from small claims court?

Question

If a tenant skips town on you and you decide to go to this bullcrap small claims court thing because thats what we all tell each other to do on these forums....and you win....how do you get the money if you dont know where they work?

has anybody seen money from winning small claims court?

Nathan Gesner · Answer

I send the to a collections agency. There's a good chance I will never see the money, but at least it sits on their credit and prevents them from qualifying for another rental, a car loan, or a home purchase.

I switched to a new collection agency one year ago. They've collected more for me in one year than the previous three agencies collected in 12 years! I've had three former tenants pay what they owed in full because they were trying to buy a house. I think six have paid in full, two are on payment plans and have made several payments, and a few others have made partial payments.

Send a direct message and I'll share the company I'm using. I have no affiliation or financial benefit from referrals.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

I did but then the tenant file BK after about 6 months of garnishing their wages .. Trustee made me send all the money i garnished back LOL.

Paul T. · Answer

The short answer is "yes."

Nothing herein is legal advice.

Going to small claims court and obtaining a judgment is actually the easiest part of the process. Collecting is generally much harder. The following is based on CA procedures, although most states will have similar if not identical procedures available. The good news is, assuming your defendant has (or may have in the future) the ability to pay, the judgment incurs interest at the rate of 10% per annum and the judgment is good for ten years. (Before ten years have expired, the judgment can be renewed (repeatedly).

Assuming your tenant filled out a written application, and that application included an employer name and address, that would be the starting point. Of course, that is also why one might want to have the tenant update their rental application, with each lease renewal, so that you have the most current information on that tenant. If the tenant has relocated and changed jobs, the former employer, or friends or neighbors of the defendant, are a potential source of informtion about the new employment. You can also obtain the defendant's forwarding address (if any), from the local post office. Skip tracers are another alternative.

Has anybody actually seen money from small claims court?

Has anybody actually seen money from small claims court?

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