How Can I Collect my Judgment?

Once the judgment is issued, the debtor can voluntarily pay the amount due. If the debtor does not pay, it is up to the creditor to collect its own judgment. The creditor may choose to garnish the debtor’s earnings or bank account; to attach the debtor’s personal property; to obtain a lien against the debtor’s real estate; or to take any other actions permitted by law. Many of these processes require filing documents with the court and paying additional fees. Without taking any action, your judgment will remain active, and you may make attempts to collect money owed on it, for a period of five (5) years. After this time period, you have the option of “reviving” your judgment and attempting to collect upon it within an additional five (5) years. The court cannot give you legal advice to help you collect your debt.

You can collect your money (including the judgment balance, filing fees and court costs, and interest, if any) in any of the following ways:

How to File Wage Garnishments (personal earnings)

Mail the person who owes you a “Notice of Court Proceeding to Collect Debt”. The 15 day notice is available on the Court website. Fill out two copies of the form and mail one copy of the completed form to the person who owes you at his or her last know address by certificate of mailing. This certificate of mailing shows when you sent the form. If Debtors do not pay debt on day 16 you can file an Affidavit, Order and Notice of Garnishment of Personal Earnings and Answer of Garnishee form. This form is available on the Court website. If you are using the court form, you will need to include 1 original and 4 copies of the form along with a copy of a 15 day notice and certificate of mailing. There is a $60.00 fee to file a wage garnishment. This filing fee is due at the time that you file your wage garnishment with the Court. The court accepts cash, credit card and money orders made payable to Crawford County Municipal court. The Creditor must provide the correct name and address of employer to serve.

Once the Court has received your wage garnishment documents and the appropriate filing fee, a court clerk will timestamp and file your documents, process your filing fee, and mail the wage garnishment documents to the judgment debtor’s employer (garnishee) by certified mail. Upon receiving the wage garnishment paperwork from the Court, the garnishee must respond to it by either:

Filing the “Section B. Answer of Employer (Garnishee)” from, or similar form, with the Court. This form will indicate whether the judgment debtor is still employed by the garnishee, and, if the judgment debtor is still employed, whether the garnishee is processing any other garnishments or liens filed against the judgment debtor.

Filing the “Interim Report and Answer of the Garnishee” and/or a garnishment check with the Court.

You may check the Court website at www.crawfordcountymuni.org to check the status of your garnishment.

Please note that it is ultimately your responsibility to track the amount of payments that you receive and any remaining balances (including interest and court costs) owed to you on your judgment.

How to File Bank Garnishment

If the judgment debtor does not pay you voluntarily and if you know the bank where the judgment debtor maintains a saving or checking account, then you may attempt to garnish these funds to satisfy your judgment. The judgment debtor’s bank is also referred to as the “garnishee”, you, the person filing the bank garnishment against the judgment debtor, are referred to as the “garnishor”. Complete and file your bank garnishment paperwork with the court by filing a Complete Affidavit, Order and Notice of Garnishment of Property other than Personal Earnings and Answer of Garnishee form. This form is available on the Court website If you are using the court form, you will need to supply the court with 1 original and 4 copies of the form. You will need to supply the Court with the correct Bank name, Address, Account information, and Account number.

There is a $60.00 fee to file a bank garnishment; additionally, you must include a check for $1.00 made out to the judgment debtor’s bank. The filing fee and additional check are due at the time that you file your bank garnishment with the Court. The Clerk accepts cash, credit card or money orders made payable to the Crawford County Municipal court.

You may check the Court website at www.crawfordcountymuni.org to check the status of your garnishment.

Please note that it is ultimately your responsibility to track the amount of payments that you receive and any remaining balances (including interest and court costs) owed to you on your judgment.

What to do once you have Received Payment In Full

Once you have collected all of the money that is owed to you (including the judgment balance, filing fees and court costs, and interest, if any), then you should notify the Court in writing that the judgment has been paid in full. Additionally, if, at the time the judgment was paid in full, you had an active wage garnishment against the judgment debtor, then you should also notify the Court in writing that the wage garnishment against the judgment debtor should be stopped and released.

Garnishment Forms