Judgment Domestication: Enforcing a Court Order Across State Lines
Monetary awards resulting from civil litigation become enforceable debts. In essence, a money judgment is a court order that compels the judgment debtor to pay up. Any amount awarded could cover something like medical expenses in a personal injury case or a past due amount in a debt collection case.
A very real possibility in every case is the judgment debtor packing up and leaving the state. Then what? A judgment creditor cannot simply transfer collection efforts to the neighboring state. He must go through a process known as domestication.
Judgments and the Full Faith and Credit Clause
Article IV of the U.S. Constitution contains what is known as the Full Faith and Credit Clause. The clause mandates that the states respect all the public “Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State.”
In the case of a civil judgment resulting in a monetary award, every other state in the union is required to recognize both. However, enforcement is another matter. Because each state has its own independent court system, how money judgments are enforced depends on state law. This is where domestication comes in.
What Domestication Is and Does
Domestication creates a legal record in the state that is being asked to recognize a civil judgment and monetary award. This legal record is created by filing a copy of the original judgment in the appropriate county of the neighboring state.
As for what it does, domestication establishes a legally recognized debt in the neighboring state. It also gives a judgment creditor all the rights to collection that state law allows. If the rules in the neighboring state are different from those in the original state, any collection efforts in the neighboring state must follow those rules.
Example: Wage Garnishment
A difference in rules is easily illustrated through wage garnishment. Some states do not allow wage garnishment at all. Others allow it but protect a certain portion of a judgment debtor’s income.
Let us say you win a judgment against a debtor in a state that allows garnishment. You begin garnishment right away. Everything is fine until the debtor moves to a neighboring state that does not allow it. Even after domestication, garnishment is now off the table for you.
Other Reasons for Domestication
Judgment Collectors, a Utah judgment collection agency based in Salt Lake City, explains that a debtor moving is not the only reason for domestication. A creditor might also want to domesticate if the debtor owns property in another state.
Let us say you win a money judgment in New York State. Imagine that the debtor owns vacation property in Florida. If you want to leverage that vacation property for payment, you must domesticate the judgment in the Florida county in which the property is located. Until you do so, the property is off limits.
Domestication Among Counties
One last thing to consider is domestication among counties. Some civil cases are decided at the county level rather than the state level. So if a creditor wants to go after property in a neighboring county, the original judgment must be domesticated in that county. Likewise if the debtor packs bags and moves to another county within the same state.
Domestication is simply the process of getting a civil judgment recorded in another jurisdiction. Once that is accomplished, enforcement efforts can begin in the new jurisdiction. Even foreign judgments can be enforced in the U.S. after proper domestication has occurred.
It is not good for judgment debtors, because domestication ensures they cannot run away to avoid paying what they owe. Their judgments can follow them.
