Getting a judgment in your favor is just the beginning. Creditors who have the courts on their side can still face obstacles when the debtor is in another state. At the Law Offices of Alan M. Cohen & Associates LLC, we know the difficulties that can come with this process and will use our almost 50 years of combined experience collecting debt to help your business get the money you are entitled.
If you have a court judgment in one state, federal law is also on your side. The Constitution of the United States requires each state give “full faith and credit” to judgements from other states. Most states, including Massachusetts, have enacted the Revised Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act. To move forward with a judgement from another state, the creditor must generally file the judgment with the Office of a Clerk of Court. This starts the process to domesticate the judgment so that it can become a Massachusetts judgment capable of being enforced in Massachusetts.
The creditor can than move forward to try to collect the new Massachusetts judgment as if the case had been brought in Massachusetts in the first place.
How does this work in Massachusetts?
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts allows for the creditor to file the judgement with the clerk of the district court for the district where the debtor has a usual place of business. The clerk will then mail the notice of the filing to the debtor.
The foreign judgment debtor has the option of attacking the judgment but unlike domestication by litigation, bears the burden of proving that the judgment should not be domesticated.
The importance of domesticating out of state judgments in Massachusetts
Those who won in a non-Massachusetts court but still need to enforce collection in Massachusetts do not need to go it alone. At the Law Offices of Alan M. Cohen & Associates LLC, we will use our decades of commercial debt collection experience in Massachusetts to domesticate your judgment whether by registration or litigation (both have advantages and disadvantages). Schedule an appointment by calling our offices at 508-763-6604 or sending us an email.