Civil courts nationwide issue judgments against defendants on a daily basis. Certain judgments are the consequence of unpaid outstanding debts. In other cases, they are the outcome of civil litigation. Time is the one thing that all of them share. Time is the adversary, according to the complaint.

There is a limit to how long plaintiffs can collect on unpaid judgments. It gets harder to gather the more time goes by. Therefore, it is in the plaintiff's best advantage to take any required steps to ensure that they collect on a judgment as soon as feasible.

Statutes of Limitation

Unfortunately, there are plenty of things that work against plaintiffs trying to collect unpaid judgments. Right off the bat you have statutes of limitation. Salt Lake City-based Judgment Collectors, a specialist judgment collection agency active in six states, says that the time limit on judgments in most states is between 7 and 10 years.

That may seem like a lot of time to a plaintiff working on collecting its very first judgment, but it is really not. Collecting on a judgment requires following certain rules and regulations. It requires following certain steps that can take some time to complete. That first year could easily roll into the second, and then the third, and so on.

Debtors Know How to Avoid Payment

The next problem plaintiff’s face is the reality that some debtors know how to avoid payment. The experienced ones have done it before. Every instance of success only encourages them to do it again. But even defendants facing their first judgments have something working in their favor: an attorney.

Attorneys represent plaintiffs in civil cases are trained to take advantage of the system, much as specialist judgment collection companies are skilled at using the resources available to them to find debtors and get them to pay. They can offer clients advice on how to safeguard assets and other private data. Don't worry, when you ask, they give you advice.

Trails Go Cold

Debt collection can take some time to complete. On the other hand, it also takes time for a debtor to do the things necessary to ensure their trail goes cold. Let's take the example of a debtor whose lawyer suggests that he transfer a piece of property to a family member in order to avoid it from get confiscated and used to pay off the debt. That transaction cannot occur overnight. It will take some time.

This reality gives plaintiffs the edge in the weeks and months immediately following a judgment being entered. But the longer the judgment goes unpaid, the more the defendant can do to hide themself and their asset. Over time, the trail can go cold.

Bring In the Big Guns

Time is clearly the enemy to plaintiffs trying to collect unpaid judgments. The best way to prevent time from destroying collection efforts is to not wait to bring in the big guns. As soon as the judge’s gavel falls, a plaintiff should be in touch with a specialized debt collection agency ready to take on the job. Utilizing the plaintiff’s attorney is another option, but the attorney may not be able to give his full attention to debt collection.

Bringing in a judgment collection agency right away offers the opportunity to get right on the debtor’s trail before they have time to start obscuring it. The sooner a collection agency gets started, the better the results for the creditor. It is all about time, and time is the enemy when it comes to collecting judgments.