Taking someone who owes you money to court sometimes seems like the only way to get satisfaction on the debt. If you have never done it before, it is easy to convince yourself that the compulsion of a court order will do the trick. The debtor will pay up and that will be that. But what if the debtor doesn’t pay up? What if they do not cooperate?
Far too many creditors have been forced to ask this question. Unfortunately, the civil court system seems to work in favor of debtors by making it too easy for them to avoid payment. Creditors are left with very few avenues of recourse, leading some to simply throw up their hands and give up.
According to Utah-based Judgment Collectors, giving up is not a frustrated creditor’s only option. Judgment Collectors is a specialized collection agency that focuses exclusively on unpaid judgments. They say that firms like theirs are a creditor’s best bet for pursuing deadbeats.
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Refusing to Probate in NJ
Debtors find all sorts of creative ways to avoid paying their debts. Sometimes, they do what they do to cover someone else’s debts. A good case illustrating the point comes out of New Jersey. It was discussed in a Q&A column published on the NJ.com website.
The writer (a creditor) wanted advice on how to handle the case of a deceased debtor. Apparently, the decedent’s beneficiary has chosen not to do anything with her mother’s property in the wake of her death. She will not probate the will and has not yet informed the state tax department or bank of her mother’s passing. Meanwhile, the creditor has a docketed judgment but is unable to leverage the property to pay the debt.
In this case, it is not clear why the beneficiary has refused to move forward. Either way, the creditor is afraid that the property will continue losing value as bills associated with it continue to pile up. The creditor is afraid that the property eventually will not be worth enough to seize and sell.
Available Legal Avenues
As you might imagine, the answer to the creditors question is rather complicated. In a nutshell, New Jersey law allows some means of forcing probate in the absence of the beneficiary doing so willingly. There are also provisions in the law that could allow the creditor to take over execution of the will, thereby allowing sale of the property.
The point is that there are legal means of getting around the situation in New Jersey. The question is whether the creditor has the knowledge, skills, and resources to pursue this any further. If not, the best course of action might be to turn the matter over to an experienced attorney or hire a judgment collection firm that specializes in this sort of thing.
Collection Agencies Are the Experts
No doubt that attorneys are more than capable of navigating the legal aspects of debt collection. But unless an attorney focuses all their time and effort on this one particular area of law, they have other things that need their attention. In such cases, an attorney may not be the best option. On the other hand, collection agencies focus all their attention and resources on getting paid. They are the experts in debt collection.
Debtors would pay up without issue in a perfect world. But given that the world is not perfect, creditors sometimes have to go to extraordinary means to collect on judgments. When debtors do not cooperate, it is time to call in the big guns by way of an experienced judgment collection firm.
