Blogs & Resources

We are often asked, what, if any, existing legal right in collection does an aggrieved victim have against a defendant who was ordered to pay restitution in a preceding criminal action? In short, an aggrieved party that is either the State or named as a victim in a resulting criminal Restitution Order has an enforceable right to restitution identical to a judgment holder. Being the named victim in the Restitution Order directs the offender to pay restitution for this person’s benefit and the victim is allowed to enforce that right through the civil collection process. To perfect that right, a victim may do many things, including filing a Civil Restitution Lien to attach to property acquired by the offender after the Restitution Order is issued. This Lien lasts for twenty (20) years.

This Blog is Part X in a series of Blogs designed to provide business owners with a high-level overview of the legal process for collecting on past-due accounts receivables. Specifically, Part X focuses on the utilization of proceedings supplementary as a tool for satisfying the outstanding judgment balance owed by a judgment debtor.

Florida is known as a “debtor-friendly” state, and one of the greatest protections afforded debtors under the Florida Constitution is the homestead exemption. Article X, Section 4, of the Florida Constitution states that creditors cannot force the sale of the debtor’s primary residence in order to satisfy a judgment or lien. This homeowner protection is also codified in the Florida Statutes in Chapter 222.

Florida’s homestead protection applies to the primary residence up to one-half acre within a municipality and up to 160 contiguous acres outside of a municipality. Fla. Const. Art. X, §4(a)(1). As long as those acreage requirements are met, it does not matter if the primary residence is worth 4 million dollars

This Blog is Part IX in a series of Blogs designed to provide business owners with a high-level overview of the legal process for collecting on past-due accounts receivables. Specifically, Part IX focuses on the ability of creditors to obtain a receiver over the debtor’s business and/or property as a method for satisfying the outstanding judgment balance.

Often times a creditor will find it difficult to collect on its judgment against the debtor, even when the creditor discovers that the debtor owns a business interest or owns other personal property

On August 14, 2013, Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal issued an opinion in the case of Regions Bank v. MDG Frank Helmerich, LLC, et al., that is of great benefit to Florida’s judgment creditors. In its opinion, the Second District held that a judgment creditor is entitled to post-judgment discovery on the judgment debtor’s assets held jointly with a spouse. Regions Bank v. MDG Frank Helmerich, LLC, et al., 2013 WL 4081005, 2 (Fla. 2d DCA 2013). That holding provides creditors with a greater net to cast in the hopes of locating assets that are nonexempt and can be used to satisfy the judgment balance.

This Blog is Part VIII in a series of Blogs designed to provide business owners with a high-level overview of the legal process for collecting on past-due accounts receivables.  Specifically, Part VIII focuses on executing and levying on a debtor’s personal property as a method for creditors to satisfy an […]

This Blog is Part VII in a series of Blogs designed to provide business owners with a high-level overview of the legal process for collecting on past-due accounts receivables. Specifically, Part VII focuses on satisfying a creditor’s outstanding judgment balance by issuing a charging order against a debtor’s business interest.

This Blog is Part VI in a series of Blogs designed to provide business owners with a high-level overview of the legal process for collecting on past-due accounts receivables. Specifically, Part VI focuses on garnishing a debtor’s employer for a portion of the debtor’s salary or wages in order to satisfy the outstanding judgment debt.

This Blog is Part V in a series of Blogs designed to provide business owners with a high-level overview of the legal process for collecting on past-due accounts receivables. Specifically, Part V focuses on garnishing a debtor’s bank accounts in order to satisfy the outstanding judgment debt.

It is common knowledge that when a company or individual files for bankruptcy, all collection activity stops. What is commonly not known is that condominium assessments are, in a manner of speaking, exempt from that rule. The fact is, all collection activity does not have to stop and you can still recover assessments that come due after the bankruptcy action is filed. Let’s read on to see exactly how all this works.