The Court Will Not Collect the Money for You
The verdict came in, the judgment is signed, and then nothing happens. No check in the mail, no call from the courthouse, no sheriff knocking on the defendant’s door. Florida courts decide who owes what and then step back. Collecting the money is entirely the winner’s job, and most people discover that the week after they win.
The vocabulary changes on day one. You are now the judgment creditor. The person or company that owes you is the judgment debtor, and your judgment is a license to use tools ordinary creditors never get, including liens that follow property, writs that freeze bank accounts, and court orders that put the debtor under oath about every asset they own.
Three things are true the moment the judgment is entered. It starts earning interest at a rate the state resets quarterly. It stays enforceable for 20 years. And it is worth nothing until you point it at an asset. Whether the case began as a broken contract, an unpaid promissory note, a personal guarantee, a deficiency after a foreclosure or deed in lieu, or a partner dispute, the work now shifts from proving you are right to finding what pays.
Find the Assets Before You File Anything
Most failed collection efforts fail the same way. Paperwork first, asset map never. A writ aimed at an empty account costs money and warns the debtor. So the sequence starts with discovery, and Florida makes the first round nearly free.
The fact information sheet. Florida’s civil procedure rules include a standard financial disclosure form that the court, on your request, orders the debtor to complete under oath, usually within 45 days, covering bank accounts, employer, real estate, vehicles, business interests, even the spouse’s employer. Ignoring the order is contempt of court. If you are still in the lawsuit and headed toward a win, ask for the enforcement paragraph in the final judgment itself, so the disclosure obligation starts automatically the day the judgment is signed.
Depositions and subpoenas. Post-judgment, you keep the full discovery toolbox. A deposition in aid of execution puts the debtor in a chair, under oath, answering asset questions with documents on the table. Subpoenas go to banks, bookkeepers, payment processors, and title companies, the people whose records do not shade the truth.
The free sources. County property appraiser and official-records sites show real estate and the mortgages on it. Sunbiz shows every Florida company the debtor owns or manages. Court dockets show who else is chasing the same debtor, which matters, because priority fights are won by filing order.
Then, before spending another dollar, map what you found against Florida’s exemptions, covered below. An asset you can see is not always an asset you can reach.
Judgment Liens on Real Estate and Personal Property
Liens are the cheap, quiet move, and they come first because priority rewards speed.
Real estate. Record a certified copy of the judgment in the official records of every county where the debtor owns land, or might someday. One detail voids the whole exercise. Under Florida’s judgment-lien statute, the recorded judgment must show the creditor’s address, or be recorded together with an affidavit that does. Done right, the lien holds for 10 years from recording and can be extended by re-recording, up to an overall cap of 20 years from the judgment. From that day forward the debtor cannot sell or refinance that property without the title company finding you, and payoffs at a closing table, with years of interest attached, are how a large share of patient judgments finally collect.
Everything else. For personal property, file a judgment lien certificate (a short filing with the Florida Department of State, made online through Sunbiz). It reaches the debtor’s personal property that is subject to execution, and since a recent change in the law that includes accounts receivable and payment intangibles, which for a business debtor is often the whole ballgame. The lien lasts 5 years, and one second certificate can add 5 more. Priority among competing creditors runs strictly by date and time of filing, to the minute, so this filing belongs in week one, not month six.
Garnishment of Bank Accounts and Wages
A writ of garnishment is a court order that freezes money someone else holds for the debtor, and it is the tool most winners have heard of because it produces actual dollars.
Bank accounts. You move for the writ, the clerk issues it, and it is served on the bank. The freeze catches what the account holds when the writ arrives, which is why timing is strategy. A writ served the day after a big receivable lands collects, and the same writ a week earlier collects air. This is where the discovery step pays for itself.
Wages. For a debtor with a paycheck, Florida allows a continuing writ served on the employer. One writ, ongoing deductions from each paycheck until the judgment is satisfied.
The rules that come with it. You pay the garnishee (the bank or employer holding the money) $100 toward its attorney fee. The debtor receives a notice listing every exemption Florida offers and has 20 days to claim one and request a hearing. And the biggest exemption defeats many wage garnishments before they start. A debtor who provides more than half the support of a child or other dependent is a head of family under Florida law, and a head of family’s take-home pay of $750 a week or less is completely exempt, with anything above that reachable only if the debtor signed a specific written waiver. Exempt wages sitting in a bank account keep their protection for six months if they can be traced. So a wage writ against a sole breadwinner usually fails, a bank writ against a company’s operating account usually does not, and knowing which debtor you have is worth more than any filing.
Holding a judgment that is not turning into money?
The tools work in a sequence, and the sequence starts with the asset map. Book a free 30-minute consult and we will read your debtor honestly.
Book your free consultExecution and Levy: When the Sheriff Shows Up
The writ of execution is the classic image of collection. The clerk issues the writ, you deliver it to the sheriff with written instructions for levy, and the sheriff seizes the property (that seizure is the levy), advertises it, and sells it at a public sale, with the proceeds applied to your judgment after costs.
Two realities temper the image. First, the sheriff does not investigate. You identify the property and where it sits, which is one more reason discovery comes first. Second, forced sales are slow and often bring poor prices, so the writ’s highest use is frequently pressure. Equipment, vehicles, inventory, and non-exempt real estate can genuinely be taken, and a debtor watching a levy date approach on the company’s trucks tends to discover a payment plan. We prepare every levy as if the sale will happen, and most resolve before it does.
Proceedings Supplementary and Fraudulent Transfers
Some debtors do not hide assets; they hand them out. The truck goes to a brother, the receivables go to a new LLC with the same customers, the business is sold to a cousin for a dollar. Florida’s answer is proceedings supplementary (a follow-on proceeding inside your existing case, no new lawsuit required), and it is the heavy weapon of the collection toolbox.
With an unsatisfied judgment and a short affidavit, the court can order the debtor in for examination and, more importantly, pull in the third parties who received the debtor’s assets. A person served with a notice to appear must explain, under oath, why the property they hold should not go toward your judgment. Transfers of personal property to relatives or insiders within the year before they are served carry built-in suspicion, and the debtor bears the burden of proving the transfer was honest.
Behind that sits Florida’s fraudulent transfer law, which lets the court unwind transfers made to delay, hinder, or defraud creditors, generally reaching back four years, and sometimes longer where a concealed transfer was only recently discovered. The court can void the transfer, send the sheriff for the asset, enter judgment against the person who took it, and make the debtor pay your attorney’s fees for the exercise. Where the money was outright stolen along the way, the theft claims carry their own remedies, including treble damages.
One asset class plays by different rules. A membership interest in an LLC is reached through a charging order (a court order redirecting the debtor’s distributions to you), and for a multi-member Florida LLC that is the only remedy, while a single-member LLC interest can be foreclosed outright. The mechanics live on our Florida LLC asset protection page, seen from the other side of the table.
Why Florida Is Called a Debtor’s Haven
Now the honest part, the one the clerk’s handouts skip. Florida shields more of a debtor’s life from creditors than almost any state, and no collection plan is real until it accounts for that.
The homestead is protected without any dollar cap by the Florida Constitution, up to half an acre inside a city and 160 acres outside one. A married couple’s jointly held property (called tenancy by the entireties) is generally out of reach for a creditor of one spouse alone. Head-of-family wages are protected as described above. Retirement accounts, annuities, the cash value of life insurance, disability income, and prepaid college plans are all exempt by statute. These are the same shields our asset protection practice builds with, which is exactly why we can read them quickly from the creditor’s side.
Here is what that means practically. Collection in Florida is an asset-location and exemption-mapping exercise before it is a paperwork exercise. A judgment against a business with receivables, or an unmarried debtor with a brokerage account and an investment property, can collect in months. A judgment against a married retiree whose wealth is a protected home, joint accounts, and a pension may collect only when circumstances change, and the right move today is a cheap recorded lien and patience, not a five-figure chase. Debtors who shuffle nonexempt money into exempt shapes on the eve of collection invite fights of their own, some winnable and some not. An honest collection lawyer tells you in the first meeting which kind of judgment you hold.
Collecting an Out-of-State Judgment in Florida
Debtors move to Florida for the sunshine and, sometimes, for the exemptions. If your judgment comes from another state, Florida will enforce it, but it must first be domesticated (registered here so Florida treats it as its own).
The procedure is recording, not relitigating. You record a certified copy of the judgment with a Florida clerk of court along with a short affidavit listing both sides’ names and addresses. The clerk mails notice to the debtor. Thirty days after that mailing, unless the debtor has raised one of the narrow available challenges, such as an attack on the original court’s jurisdiction or a still-pending appeal, the judgment is enforceable here with every tool on this page. Judgments from a federal court use an even simpler registration procedure between federal districts. Two cautions travel with all of this. The debtor’s new Florida exemptions apply in full, and the timing rules for bringing an out-of-state judgment here run shorter than most winners assume, so domesticate early rather than someday.
When to Chase, When to Settle, When to Wait
Every judgment ends one of three ways, and all three can be the right answer.
Chase. When the asset map shows reachable value, the tools get sequenced and used. Liens immediately, discovery next, then the garnishment or levy aimed at what discovery found. Speed matters, because other creditors may be filing and priority runs by the clock.
Settle. A debtor’s offer of sixty cents on the dollar today is often worth more than a full recovery that arrives in year four, after fees, or never arrives at all. Settling from strength, after the liens are recorded and the debtor has felt one tool, produces better discounts than settling from fatigue.
Wait. Judgments last 20 years and earn interest the whole time, at the rate posted quarterly on the Florida CFO’s website. For the judgment-proof-today debtor, the professional move is to spend a little, recording liens, calendaring renewal dates, checking the debtor’s footprint annually, and let time do the work. Property sells, businesses recover, inheritances land.
What it costs. Collection work fits different structures depending on the case, hourly, staged flat fees, or a recovery-based arrangement where that makes sense for both sides, and we will tell you plainly when a judgment is not worth chasing. That conversation, plus a first read of your debtor’s asset picture, is what the free 30-minute consult is for.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Happens if a Defendant Does Not Pay a Judgment in Florida?
Nothing, automatically. The court does not chase the money, so a defendant who ignores the judgment faces no consequence until you create one. That is what the collection tools are for. Recording the judgment clouds every piece of real estate the debtor owns in that county, a garnishment freezes bank accounts, and court-ordered disclosure puts the debtor under oath about assets. Most debtors who can pay start negotiating once the first tool lands, because each one makes normal financial life harder.
What Is a Judgment Debtor?
The person or business a court has ordered to pay money. The winner is the judgment creditor. The labels matter because Florida gives each side a defined set of rights. The creditor gets liens, garnishment, levy, and post-judgment discovery, and the debtor gets exemptions that protect certain property no matter how large the judgment is. Collection strategy is mostly about learning which of the debtor’s assets fall on which side of that line.
How Does a Writ of Garnishment Work in Florida?
You ask the court for a writ, and the writ is served on someone who holds the debtor’s money, usually a bank or an employer. A bank writ freezes what is in the account when the writ arrives. A wage writ runs continuously, taking a slice of each paycheck until the judgment is paid. The debtor receives a notice of exemption rights and has 20 days to claim one, and the head-of-family wage exemption defeats many wage garnishments, so we check that before filing rather than after.
How Do I File a Judgment Lien in Florida?
Two filings, protecting different property. For real estate, record a certified copy of the judgment in the official records of each county where the debtor owns land; the recorded copy must include the creditor’s address or carry a simultaneous affidavit with it, or no lien is created. For everything else, file a judgment lien certificate with the Florida Department of State through Sunbiz. Priority runs in order of filing, down to the minute, so these are the first moves, not the last.
How Long Is a Judgment Good For in Florida?
Twenty years. Interest runs the whole time at a rate the state resets quarterly, and liens can be renewed along the way, so a judgment that cannot be collected this year is often collected in year six, when the debtor sells property, inherits, or needs clean title for a loan. Patience is a real strategy in Florida collection, and it is cheap. The mistake is letting a lien lapse or the judgment sit unrecorded while the clock runs.
Can I Collect an Out-of-State Judgment in Florida?
Yes. Florida lets you domesticate an out-of-state judgment, meaning you record a certified copy with a Florida clerk along with a short affidavit, the clerk mails notice to the debtor, and after 30 days the judgment is enforceable here like a Florida judgment, with the same liens, garnishment, and levy tools. Judgments from federal courts have their own registration procedure. The timing rules for bringing an out-of-state judgment here are shorter than people expect, so this is not a move to postpone.
What if the Debtor Has No Assets?
Then honesty is worth more than motion practice. A debtor whose assets are all exempt, a protected home, entireties accounts with a spouse, retirement funds, protected wages, is judgment-proof for now, and spending money on tools that cannot reach anything only deepens the loss. The usual play is to record the liens cheaply, let interest run, and watch for the change, whether that is a property sale, a new job, a business, or an inheritance. Judgment-proof today rarely means judgment-proof for twenty years.
Does a Judgment Earn Interest in Florida?
Yes. Interest runs from the day the judgment is entered at a rate set quarterly by Florida’s Chief Financial Officer and posted on the CFO’s website, and the accrued interest is collectible along with the principal. On a judgment that takes years to collect, interest becomes a meaningful part of the payoff, which is one reason the record-the-lien-and-wait strategy works better than it sounds.
Common Situations
The lien that waited. A contractor wins $85,000 against a developer whose home is protected and whose accounts are empty. Certified copies get recorded in two counties and the Sunbiz certificate gets filed, for little more than recording costs. Three years later a title company calls, because the developer is selling an investment lot and cannot close over the lien. The payoff arrives with three years of interest on top.
The writ that was aimed. A judgment debtor swears on his fact information sheet that he is barely getting by. The deposition in aid of execution surfaces a payment processor, and a subpoena shows the monthly deposit rhythm of his online business. The writ of garnishment is served the morning after the payout lands and catches five figures. His exemption claim fails at the hearing, and the balance settles within sixty days.
The honest no. A widow holds a judgment against a married retiree who has a protected homestead, entireties accounts, and a pension. Every tool she could buy would hit a wall of exemptions. She records the lien, spends nothing else, and revisits once a year. The value of the advice was the fees she did not burn, and the lien is still there, earning interest, waiting for the facts to change.
Sources of Law
- Fla. Stat. §55.10 (judgment lien on real property by recording a certified copy; creditor-address requirement; 10-year duration and rerecording); §55.081 (no judgment lien beyond 20 years); §§55.202 to 55.209 (judgment lien certificates filed with the Department of State; scope including accounts and payment intangibles; priority by date and time of filing; 5-year duration and second certificate); §55.03 (judgment interest rate set quarterly by the Chief Financial Officer); §§55.501 to 55.509 (Florida Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act; recording, clerk’s mailed notice, and 30-day waiting period); §95.11(1) (20-year period for an action on a Florida judgment). Retrieved 2026-08-08.
- Fla. Stat. ch. 77 (garnishment): §77.041 (notice of exemption rights and 20-day claim window), §77.0305 (continuing writ of garnishment against salary or wages), §77.28 ($100 payment to the garnishee). Retrieved 2026-08-08.
- Fla. Stat. §222.11 (head-of-family wage exemption; $750 weekly threshold; written-waiver requirement; six-month protection for traceable deposited earnings); §§222.13, 222.14, 222.18, 222.21 (life insurance, annuities, disability income, retirement accounts); Fla. Const. art. X, §4 (homestead exemption).
- Fla. Stat. ch. 56 (executions and the sheriff’s levy); §56.29 (proceedings supplementary; notice to appear; one-year insider-transfer burden shift); ch. 726 (Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act), §726.110 (limitation periods). Retrieved 2026-08-08.
- Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.560 and Form 1.977 (discovery in aid of execution; fact information sheet); Fla. Stat. §605.0503 (charging orders on LLC membership interests); 28 U.S.C. §1963 (registration of federal-court judgments).
Updated on August 8, 2026. Reviewed by Kevin D. Klagge, Esq., Fla. Bar No. 99502. Attorney Kevin Klagge represents families, businesses, and international clients in estate and tax planning, business structuring, and international law, with a focus on Florida legal tools. He litigates estate and business issues in court. General information about Florida law, not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created. Outcomes depend on the specific facts; past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Do not send confidential information until we have agreed to represent you.