Finding your judgment debtor’s real estate in Texas is much easier today than it was “pre-Internet.”  There are two important and informative websites that will help you find and confirm your judgment debtor’s real property ownership in Texas.  Both sites are free.

Texas County Data

Texas County Data claims to be Texas’ largest online property records database. As of this writing the site has property information for the following counties:

Anderson, Angelina, Aransas, Austin, Bastrop, Blanco, Bosque, Brazoria, Brazos,  Burleson, Burnet, Coleman, Deaf Smith, Denton, Fayette, Fort Bend, Gillespie, Gregg, Grimes, Hamilton,
Haskell, Hays, Hidalgo, Jackson, Jones, Kendall, Kerr, Kimble, Lavaca, Limestone, Llano, Lubbock, Madison, Milam, Montgomery, Navarro, Newton, Nueces, Rains, Rockwall, Shelby, Swisher, Trinity, Tyler, Waller, Washington, Wharton, Wood

Texas CAD

Texas CAD provides a list of all Texas Appraisal Districts that have a web site.  The site currently contains links to the following Texas counties:

Anderson, Angelina, Aransas,Archer, Atascosa, Austin, Bandera, Bastrop, Bell, Bexar, Blanco, Brazoria, Brazos, Brown, Burleson, Burnet, Caldwell, Calhoun, Cameron, Cass, Chambers, Cherokee, Clay, Coleman, Collin, Colorado, Comal, Comanche, Cooke, Coryell, Dallas, Denton, Ector, El Paso, Ellis, Erath, Fannin, Fayette, Fort Bent, Franklin, Freestone, Galveston, Gillespie, Gonzales, Gray, Grayson, Gregg, Grimes, Guadalupe, Hale, Hardin, Harris, Harrison, Hays, Henderson, Hidalgo, Hill, Hood, Hopkins, Houston, Hunt, Jack, Jefferson, Jim Hogg, Johnson, Jones, Kaufman, Kendall, Kerr, Kleberg, Lamar, Lamb, Lee, Liberty, Limestone, Llano, Lubbock, Madison, Marion, Matagorda, Maverick, McLennan, Midland, Milam, Montgomery, Morris, Nacogdoches, Newton, Nolan, Nueces, Orange, Palo, Parker, Potter, Real, Red River, Rockwall, Rusk, San Jacinto, San Patricio, Smith, Somervell, Stephens, Swisher, Tarrant, Taylor, Travis, Tyler, Upshur, Uvalde, Van Zandt, Victoria, Walker, Waller, Webb, Wharton, Wichita, Wilbarger, Williamson, Wilson, Wise, Wood

While these two sites are good resources for starting your real property search in Texas, neither site has information for all Texas counties.  So, you can’t get an exhaustive listing of all real property ownership in Texas using either of these sites.

But, what you can get from these sites, at least for the counties available, is the name and address of the individual or corporation who is paying taxes on a particular piece of property and the appraisal value for the property.

Introduction

You have a judgment from a court in a state other than Texas.  But, your judgment debtor either dwells in Texas or holds assets in Texas.  Is there anything you can do to collect your judgment in Texas?  Yes, you can.  You have two alternatives for collecting your judgment in Texas.  The first is by far the quickest and easiest method.  And, it’s something you can do without an attorney.  The second is a bit more complicated.  The second method requires the help of an attorney.  I’ll discuss the particulars of the first option.

The Affidavit Procedure

The easiest method to collect a sister-state judgment in Texas is the affidavit procedure.  Texas accepts the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act.  Under this Act, you merely file a copy of your sister-state judgment with any court of competent jurisdiction.  Along with the judgment, you must file an affidavit giving your name and address and the name and last known address of your judgment debtor.

Before a Texas court will accept your judgment filing and affidavit, your judgment must be properly authenticated.  This essentially means there must be evidence that your judgment is really what it purports to be.  In other words, there must be evidence that your judgment is a real, bona fide and unquestionable judgment rendered by a court in your state.  The Texas Rules of Evidence provide that some documents are self-authenticated.  A self-authenticated document is one in which the genuineness of the document is obvious from the document itself.  Self-authenticated documents are assumed to be genuine and reliable.

In the case of your sister-state judgment, you can establish the judgment as a self-authenticating document as defined by the Texas Rules of Evidence.   To do you so, you simply obtain a certified copy of your judgment from the clerk of the court that gave the judgment.  So, rather than copying your judgment and attaching it to the affidavit, you ask the clerk of the court that gave the judgment to provide you a certified copy of that judgment.  Attach the certified copy to your affidavit and file both with a Texas court of competent jurisdiction.

Competent Jurisdiction

You must file your judgment and affidavit in a Texas court of competent jurisdiction.  Potentially, there are four different courts in Texas where you can file your judgment.  They are the Justice Court, the County Court, the County Court at Law and the District Court.  You must find the proper court for your judgment.  To make that decision, you must understand the phrase competent jurisdiction.

In an excessively simple explanation, think of Texas Court jurisdiction in civil matters (i.e., non-criminal cases) as being divided by money.  This means that every court in Texas has jurisdiction in civil matters on the basis of the sum of money at issue.  It breaks down as follows:

Justice Court – up to a maximum of $10,000

County Court  – $200 – $10,000

County Court at Law – $200 – $100,000

District Court – $200 and up

So, to decide the court of competent jurisdiction for your sister-state judgment, you just need to deal the total of your judgment.  If, for instance, your judgment is for $5,000, you can select to file the judgment and affidavit in either a Justice Court, County Court, County Court at Law or District Court.  But, if your judgment is for $15,000 you can only file it in the County Court at Law or District Court.

Once you decide the court of competent jurisdiction, you need to determine the specific county for filing.  The correct county for filing is either the Texas county in which your judgment debtor lives or the county in which he owns assets.

To learn more effective Texas judgment collection techniques, get a copy of How to Collect Your Own Judgment in Texas.  The book detail 7 simple easy to follow steps to enforcing your judgment in Texas.  Buy your copy today and receive a 10% discount for reading this article.  To claim your discount, enter the code “sisterstate” in the checkout cart.

Harvey L. Cox
Texas Judgment Collection Center

Introduction

In my book, How to Collect Your Own Judgment in Texas, I discuss seizing your judgment debtor’s property as an effective means to enforce your Texas judgment.  Along with the discussion, I cover the categories of property that are exempt from seizure.  Specifically, I mention that you can’t garnish a judgment debtor’s current wages for personal service and apply the wages to your judgment.  The only exception to this rule is for court-ordered child support.  It’s in the Texas Constitution.  You just can’t do it.

But, before you give up on the idea of following the money path to your judgment debtor’s apparent place of employment, you need to ask a few more questions.  As is usually the situation with legal matters, it all comes down to definitions.  So, you have to make sure you know what the definition of “wages for personal service” is.

The case of Campbell v Stucki, 220 S.W.3d 562 (Tex. App. — Tyler, 2007, no pet.) explains what I mean.

Facts

Gina and Paul Stucki divorced.  Paul was an insurance agent.  On August 27, 2004, the trial court reformed its decree of divorce to award Gina child support and 50% of Paul’s insurance renewal commissions payable on policies written before May 26, 2004.  Campbell was Gina’s attorney.  The court awarded his attorney’s fees.  It’s probably no big surprise to know that Paul didn’t readily pay the commissions to Gina.  He ignored payment of the attorney’s fees too.

On December 9, 2004 and January 4, 2005, writs of garnishment were filed against Paul’s employer, Bankers Life and Casualty Company.  One writ was from Gina and one was from her attorney, Campbell.  Bankers Life filed an answer admitting that it was indebted to Paul.  On January 20, 2005, Paul filed a motion to dissolve the writs of garnishment.  He stated that Bankers Life was his employer and the funds it held were entirely his wages, less child support.  He argued that the funds were exempt from garnishment pursuant to Section 63.004 of the Texas Civil Practices and Remedies Code and Article XVI, Section 28 of the Texas Constitution.

Campbell and Gina conducted discovery prior to filing the writs of garnishment.  In that discovery Paul admits he was an independent contractor with Bankers Life, not an employee. He also admits he was paid commissions, not wages and salary.  Campbell and Gina, therefore, argue that the funds held by Bankers Life were subject to garnishment because they were not “wages for personal service.”

On January 21, 2005 the trial court dissolved the writs.  In other words, the court didn’t allow Campbell and Gina to garnish the funds held by Bankers Life.  The trial court did find that Paul was an independent contractor.  That’s really a “no-brainer” ruling because he admitted being an independent contractor in  post-judgment discovery.  But, the court went on to conclude that his commissions were actually compensation for personal service.  As compensation for personal service the commissions were exempt from garnishment.  That’s the part of the ruling that makes no sense.  So, Campbell and Gina appealed.
The appeal presents six different points of error.  I didn’t deal with all the procedural issues that generated most the error points.  For our purposes, the only issue is the one dealing with the trial court’s conclusion that Paul’s insurance commissions were exempt as compensation for personal service.

Legal Reasoning

The appellate court’s opinion points out that Article XVI, Section 28 of the Texas Constitution states that “[n]o current wages for personal service shall ever be subject to garnishment, except for the enforcement of court-ordered child support payments.”  The court then shows that Texas courts apply this constitutional provision liberally.  That means the language is interpreted favorably to the wage earner.  But, the court points out that the phrase “wages for personal service” clearly implies an employer and employee relationship.  As such, it excludes compensation to an independent contractor.

Since Paul admitted he was an independent contractor with Bankers Life, the trial court correctly concluded he was an independent contractor.  But, the trial court was incorrect in concluding that Paul’s commissions are wages.  Obviously, if he is an independent contractor, his commissions are not wages.  And, since his commissions are not wages, his commissions aren’t exempt from garnishment.

Campbell and Gina were entitled to garnish Paul’s Bankers Life commissions.

Application

This case highlights the need for thoroughness in your post-judgment discovery.  You can’t summarily conclude that just because your judgment debtor has a “job” his earnings are exempt from garnishment to satisfy your judgment.  You have to be thorough.  Ask lots of questions.  You’ll eventually uncover the truth.  And, if your judgment debtor’s “job” happens to be one where he’s an independent contractor rather than an employee … you’ve just found an avenue to pursue for collecting what he owes you.

To learn more Texas judgment collection techniques, get a copy of How to Collect Your Own Judgment in Texas.  You can purchase today and receive a 10% discount for reading this article.  To claim your discount, enter the code “wages” in the checkout cart.

To your success,
Harvey L. Cox
Texas Judgment Collection Center

Introduction

Successfully collecting your Texas Judgment requires an aggressive use of post-judgment remedies.  There are many collection remedies available to you as a judgment creditor.  The focus of this article is the judgment lien.

Creating the Judgment Lien

A lien is a claim against a person’s property for payment of a debt.  Your judgment is a court created debt in which another person, the judgment debtor, becomes obligated to pay you a certain sum of money.  But, that court created debt does not automatically create a lien on the judgment debtor’s property.  You must take affirmative action to fix a lien against your judgment debtor’s property with the debt your judgment creates.  When you properly fix a judgment lien, it acts as a lien on all of your judgment debtor’s non-exempt real property in the county where you record it.

Attaching a lien to your judgment debtor’s property is as simple as recording an abstract of the judgment creating the debt. You just record an abstract of your judgment in each county where your judgment debtor owns real property to create a lien on the property.  For example, suppose your judgment debtor owns property in Dallas County and Harris County.  If you record an abstract of your judgment in Harris County but not in Dallas County, you attach a lien only on the property in Harris County.  To affix your lien to the Dallas County property, you must record your lien in Dallas County.

Keeping the Judgment and Judgment Lien Alive

Once recorded, your judgment lien attaches to your judgment debtor’s non-exempt property for 10 years unless the judgment becomes dormant.  If the judgment becomes dormant, the judgment lien ceases to exist.

Your judgment becomes dormant if you don’t issue a writ of execution within 10 years after the judgment was signed by the judge.  If your judgment becomes dormant, it will lose its priority position in the abstract records.  It is important, therefore, for you to keep your judgment lien alive.  You can keep it alive by:

1. Recording a new abstract before the end of 10 years from the date of the last abstract; and
2. Executing on the judgment before it becomes dormant.

The Effect of a Judgment Lien

The potential impact of the Texas judgment lien was seen in the highly publicized case involving Pennzoil Company and Texaco in the mid-1980s.  Texaco, Inc. v. Pennzoil Co., 626 F.Supp. 250 (S.D.N.Y. 1986), rev’d 107 S.Ct. 1519 (1987).  As you may recall, Pennzoil won a very large judgment against Texaco.  After the judge signed that judgment, Pennzoil was entitled to abstract it and record it in each county in the State of Texas.  By doing so, Pennzoil was perfecting its judgment lien on all of Texaco’s real property in Texas.

Texaco, realizing the impact of the judgment lien, filed suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York challenging the constitutionality of Texas judgment lien laws.  Ultimately, the case was appealed to the United States Supreme Court.  The Supreme Court ruled that the federal courts should not be interfering with the Texas judicial system.  Texaco was forced to file bankruptcy to prevent Pennzoil from taking further action to perfect its judgment lien.

Practical Tips

Recording an abstract of your judgment is an inexpensive method to insure future collection.  You should consider recording an abstract in:

1. The county where your judgment debtor lives.
2. The county where your judgment debtor works.
3. The county where your judgment debtor’s family lives (inheritance possibilities).
4. The county where your judgment debtor has previously owned property (he may try to invest again).

Keep a close eye on your time frames.  You want to keep your judgment and judgment lien alive.  You should begin the process of getting a writ of execution and a new abstract ready not later than 9 years after your initial judgment is signed.  An early start will insure that all procedures are complete prior to the 10 year anniversary of the judgment and judgment lien.

To learn more Texas judgment collection techniques, get a copy of How to Collect Your Own Judgment in Texas.  Learn the 7 simple, easy steps you can take to effectively collect your Texas judgment.  Purchase your copy now and receive a 10% discount for reading this article.  To claim your discount, enter “breathinglife” in the coupon section of the checkout cart.

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Harvey L. Cox
Texas Judgment Collection Center

In Step #5 of How to Collect Your Own Judgment in Texas, I discuss the creation of a judgment lien on your judgment debtor’s real property.  But, a judgment lien does not attach to your judgment debtor’s homestead.  It does, however, create a cloud on his homestead. That cloud can hinder your judgment debtor’s ability to sell his home.  Consequently, Texas homestead protection requires that you release your judgment lien as to the homestead property if the judgment debtor requests you to do so.  Failure to release the judgment lien as to the homestead property may give your judgment debtor a claim against you.  In other words, your judgment debtor can sue you and win a judgment that requires you to pay him money damages.  This does happen in the real world of Texas judgment enforcement.

On August 11, 2008, the Dallas Court of Appeals dealt with just such a scenario in 2008-TX-0812.109, Ramsey v. Davis (Tex. App. — Dallas August 11, 2008, no pet.).

Facts

In this case, Larry Ramsey obtained a judgment against his former business partner, Leslie Parrent.  Parrent was the owner of Les Parrent Homes.  Parrent did not pay the judgment.
While driving through Plano, Texas, Ramsey discovered a Les Parrent Homes sign on a lot on Edgewater Drive.  Upon searching Collin County records he found that Jeffrey and Tamara Davis had a contract with Les Parrent Homes for the construction of a house on that lot.  The contract was for $520,000.00.

Ramsey filed an application for Writ of Garnishment against the Davises claiming they were indebted to Parrent under the contract they had with him for the construction of their home.  The gist of his claim was that he wanted their payments to Parrent redirected to him to pay towards his judgment against Parrent.  The Davises filed a verified answer denying any indebtedness to Parrent.  The case was subsequently dismissed but reinstated and set for trial.  The Davises did not receive notice of the trial setting.  They were not present when the trial court rendered judgment against them.

Ramsey abstracted the judgment against the Davises’ Edgewater Drive home.  Approximately 18 months later the Davises learned of the garnishment judgment.  They had a contract for the sale of the home.  The title company discovered the abstract of judgment.  The Davises contacted Ramsey requesting that he release the lien.  Ramsey refused.  As a result, the contract to purchase the Davises’ home was terminated by the buyer.  As I mention in the book, no knowledgeable buyer will purchase a property with a judgment lien cloud on the title.

The Davises then filed a proceeding to vacate the garnishment judgment.  They also made a claim for declaratory judgment, wrongful garnishment and slander of title.  The trial court did set the garnishment judgment aside.  The case then went to trial on the Davises’ claims of wrongful garnishment and slander of title.  The trial court rendered judgment against Ramsey in favor of the Davises in the amount of $99,220.14 for wrongful garnishment and $20,000.00 for slander of title.  Ramsey appealed that judgment.  That appeal is the case I am discussing here.

Legal Reasoning

On appeal, Ramsey argues that the trial court erred in awarding the Davises a judgment for their wrongful garnishment claim.  He argues that there is no evidence of damages recoverable for wrongful garnishment.  On this point, the appellate court agrees with Ramsey.  The court reasons that damages for wrongful garnishment include recovery of the improperly garnished funds.  The court states that other damages are also recoverable if they are the result of being denied access to the garnished funds. The Davises’ funds were never actually garnished so there are no garnished funds to recover.  The appellate court reversed the trial court on the damages award of $99,220.14 for wrongful garnishment.  Ramsey is not liable to the Davises for that amount.

On the Davises’ claim for slander of title, Ramsey does not fair as well.  The appellate court found that Ramsey’s abstract of judgment did not create a valid lien against the Davises’ Edgewater Drive home.  But, the abstracted judgment did create a cloud on the title.  The court explains that to establish slander of title, the Davises must allege and prove that Ramsey, with legal malice, published disparaging words about their title to their homestead that were false and resulted in the loss of a specific sale.  Malice means deliberate conduct without reasonable cause.

The evidence showed that two attorneys wrote letters to Ramsey advising him to release the lien because the Edgewater property was the Davises’ homestead.  The manager for the title company also called Ramsey requesting that he release the lien.  Ramsey refused all such requests.

The court finds that Ramsey’s refusal to release his judgment lien on the Davises’ homestead resulted in a lost sale and constitutes slander of title.  The Davises damages for slander of title include the amount of money they would have realized if the sale had been consummated and the amount of additional payments they made due to the loss of the sale.

The evidence showed that if the sale had closed without the release of lien, the Davises would have received $32,546.24.  If the lien had been released, they would have received $99,220.64.  Jeffrey Davis testified that he made an additional $50,017.00 in monthly payments on the property as a result of the lost sale.  The court, therefore, found sufficient evidence to support the trial court’s $20,000.00 award for slander of title.  Ramsey remained liable to the Davises for $20,000.00.

Application

The Ramsey v. Davis case drives home the point I make in How to Collect Your Own Judgment in Texas.  If you discover that your abstracted judgment creates a cloud on the title of your judgment debtor’s homestead, the smart thing to do is to release the lien as to the homestead.  You do not have to provide the judgment debtor with a blanket release.  You just need to release the specific property he claims as a homestead.

As a practical matter, I suggest waiting for the judgment debtor to contact you and request a release of the lien as to his homestead.  Until you get such a request you really do not have actual knowledge that you are creating a cloud on his homestead.  But, once you get that request, do the partial release.  If you refuse to do so, you just may find yourself on the wrong end of a slander of title lawsuit.

I do want to see you collect your judgment.  But, I want you to be smart about it.  Pick your battles wisely.  Stay away from those battles that are clear and certain losers.  “Digging in your heels” and refusing to release your judgment lien as to your judgment debtor’s homestead is just plain foolish.

To learn more about Texas judgment collection techniques, get a copy of How to Collect Your Own Judgment in Texas.  Receive a 10% discount for reading this article.  Simply enter the discount code “backfiring” when you checkout.

To your success,
Harvey L. Cox
Texas Judgment Collection Center