Finding your judgment debtor, is the first step to serve them notice of your lawsuit, and later to try to recover your judgment against them. Nobody else can pay your judgment off. If you know where your judgment debtor lives, that is often the first hint toward finding their assets, which could eventually lead to recovering your judgment. My articles are my opinions, and not legal advice. I am a Judgment Broker, and am not a lawyer. If you ever need any legal advice or a strategy to use, please contact a lawyer.
If your judgment debtor was served at their residence or work, that is the first place to look for them. If your judgment is not recent, the judgment debtor may not live or work there any more, however those are good places to start.
Some judgment debtors try to evade creditors. Often, creditors can still find them. Start with what you know, and investigate further. For example, you may already know the address that your judgment debtor used to be at. You may be able to contact people that probably know something about them.
If you talk to your judgment debtor's current or former neighbors, family, roommates, or co-workers; do not come across in a way that might arouse their suspicions. Especially with the judgment debtor's family members, try not to arouse any suspicions, about whether or not they should talk to you, a stranger, about their family member.
The usual method to get free and informal information from those that know your judgment debtor, is to lie a little. An example lie might be "I'm a long time friend of Dan Debtor from... and I want to catch up with him, do you how I can contact him, or where he moved to?" Never lie to find a judgment debtor's banking information, however it is usually OK to find out where they live, their email address or telephone number, or workplace.
Some people might tell you a lot about someone they know, and some will even tell you about people they do not know. Listen carefully, to detect whether there are any bad feelings about your debtor. If they have negative feelings, they may tell you more useful information. Listen carefully, and gently ask them probing questions.
When you are trying to find out where a person (e.g., your judgment debtor) moved to, you are skip tracing them. The skip is the person you are trying to find. Do not try to act like a bill collector or a private investigator, or even tell them that you own a judgment against your debtor.
Often, the best source of information about a judgment debtor, is their ex-spouse or a former boy or girl friend. The next best is the debtor's friends or co-workers. Contact one or more of them, and see if you can find a sympathetic ear. Some of them may give you some valuable information.
At the same court where you got your judgment, there may be other judgments against your debtor. Finding and contacting other judgment creditors could be helpful. They might be glad to share information. Sometimes other creditors will not want to share any information, because the first judgment creditor to figure out where their debtor works or banks, gets to pay the Sheriff to levy the debtor's assets. The first to get paid usually wins.
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