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.
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Harvey L. Cox
Texas Judgment Collection Center
