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Our Relentless Massachusetts Collections Attorney Use All Available Post Judgment Remedies

by | Nov 24, 2018 | Business Debt Collection, Massachusetts Debt Recovery

Recovering post judgment debt from debtors who have no intention of making payments isn’t easy. It is not something that an unexperienced attorney or ineffective collections agency can do well, if at all.  judgment.
So, what should you do?  Do you lose all hope of debt recovery and simply write off bad debts?
HELL NO!
When you have the attorneys at the Law Offices of Alan M. Cohen & Associates LLC in your corner, the one thing is certain—We Never Give Up!!
It is said that when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. Likewise, when difficult debtors just won’t pay even post judgment, you need our aggressive and relentless Massachusetts collection lawyers to protect your rights and collect your judgment. And that’s exactly what you can expect from judgment enforcement Attorney Alan M. Cohen—our experienced and knowledgeable debt collection lawyer who uses all possible and available post judgment remedies to try to make sure that our client’s get paid. In other words, we leave no stone unturned as we attempt to collect from your debtors.
At the Law Offices of Alan M. Cohen & Associates LLC, we believe that every collection case is unique and therefore the approach we use varies from case to case. Depending on your debtor and assets they have, our Massachusetts collections attorneys will work to select the best strategy from the following most effective post judgment remedies. Sometimes we use them separately, sometimes we use them one after another and sometimes we use them all at once, kind of a legal shock and awe.  We love our job.

  • Post Judgment Discovery

The Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure gives the judgment creditor the power to obtain discovery from the debtor if it can assist the judgment creditor in obtaining debt payments. The most common discovery tools include interrogatories, depositions and  document requests..

  • Interrogatories

In this legal remedy, the Law Offices of Alan M. Cohen sends out written questions or interrogatories which the debtor must answer under oath. Unlike prejudgment interrogatories, post judgment interrogatories can inquire about the debtor’s assets such as information concerning tax returns profit and loss, banking information, tangible and intangible assets and other financial information. Our interrogatories are designed to elicit useful information that may facilitate with debt recovery. The debtor must answer the questions truthfully as these answers are equivalent of sworn testimony under oath. If they do not, we pursue court orders requiring compliance and if the debtor’s still do not respond, we can ask the Court to sanction the debtors including holding them in contempt of court.

  • Deposition

Under post-judgment discovery Rule 69, the debtor can also be deposed under oath. During deposition, the collection lawyers at the Law Offices of Alan M. Cohen & Associates LLC can ask the judgment debtor anything and everything about the debtor’s financial condition and what they did with their assets. We probe for inconsistencies. We also seek document depositions from any source which we believe can provide us with useful information to discover the judgment debtor’s assets.

  • Request for Production

A post judgment request for the production of documents is just that, a document request. Unlike pre-judgment discovery, post judgment document requests can seek any documents which may reflect the judgment debtor’s assets. The obvious ones are tax returns and bank statements. The less obvious ones are the requests we don’t advertise, but often use effectively to search for the debtor’s assets.

  • Post Judgment Bank Attachments in the Case of Individual Debtor

Another great technique that our Massachusetts post judgment collections attorneys may use to help you recover debt payments is the post judgment bank attachment. By using this remedy, we request authority from the courts to freeze the debtor’s bank accounts in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This action prevents the debtor from making transactions, using or transferring money from these accounts. When there is money in the account that we have frozen, even the most silent debtor usually calls us to seek resolution.
This remedy is quite effective in the quest of collecting debts because it brings the debtor to the table and engage in meaningful negotiations to pay the amount of the debt not seized by the bank attachment.

  • Wage Garnishments

Wage garnishments have also proven as an effective means of recover monies for non-corporate judgment creditors in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Our attorneys may rely on this post judgment remedy too if we have obtained evidence of where your debtor works.
To successfully benefit from the wage garnishment remedy, our Massachusetts judgment enforcement attorneys will file a motion to garnish wages with the court. In compliance with the law, we’ll notify the judgment debtor and then appear before the court and work to persuade the judge to attach the debtor’s non-exempt wages for debt recovery.
As soon as the judge approves our request and allows for wage attachment, we’ll then send the Trustee summons to the deputy sheriff to serve the employer. Based on this, the employer will then be obligated to pay to us the statutorily allowed portion of the post judgment debtor’s wages.
In situations where the employer fails to corporate with us, then we will file a request for a default against the debtor’s employer and hold them liable for the entire amount sought in the wage attachment.

  • Reach and Apply Injunctions

Applicable in only a few states in the US including the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the reach and apply injunction is a great debt collection tool where your debtor is wed or will be owed money from a third party. This can be used both pre-judgment and post judgment. The essence of a reach and apply injunction is this: If A owes money to B and B owes money to C, C can go ask the Court to order A to pay C directly.
Some creditors may wait for the debtor to get paid by their debtors, but you don’t have to. This is because in such situations we may use the reach and apply injunction remedy. Waiting to get paid is risky because you don’t know long will your debtor debtor’s take to pay them back.
The reach and apply injunction remedy allow us to sue the third party (the debtor’s debtor) in conformance with the law and recover your monies back directly from the third party. So, the payments that they have to make to your debtor are sent to you (of the amount that your debtor owes to you).
By using reach and apply injunctions, our attorneys cut out the debtor from the middle and communicates and corresponds with the third party directly.

  • Asset Seizure

Asset seizure can be used in combination with Post Judgment discovery.  After conducting a proper and comprehensive post judgment discovery we may learn of properties and assets of the judgment debtor. Once we know about the assets, we can, if they are non-exempt, send out your friendly neighborhood sheriff or duly authorized constable to seize and sell the asset and get you paid.
Here you need an assistance of the experienced post judgment collection lawyers at the Law Offices of Alan M. Cohen & Associates LLC who can help you differentiate between what assets can be seized legally and what assets cannot be seized. So, based on the information collected about the debtor’s assets in Massachusetts during post judgment discovery, our attorney will direct the sheriff to seize assets of the debtors in conformance with the law. And then subject to existing liens, the deputy sheriff will sell the assets with the net proceeds paid to you, the judgment creditor.
Put simply, if the debtor owns assets like vehicles, artwork, inventory and equipment which can be seized by law, we will send out the execution and direct the sheriff to attach non-exempt personal property of the judgment debtor and hold it for sale at a public auction for the purpose of satisfying the judgment.
In case of real estate, we record the execution as a lien against the debtor’s property in the county registry of deeds where the property is located. That way, if the property is either refinanced or sold, you the creditor will get paid.  Depending on the creditor’s financing abilities and the equity in the property we may advise having the sheriff conduct a sheriff’s sale of the real estate to attempt to satisfy the execution—GET YOU PAID!!!
Attaching the execution to the debtor’s property having equity therein converts the judgment from an unsecured debt to a secured debt. As mentioned earlier you may eventually get paid when the debtor refinances or sells that property.

  • Keeper Attachments

Keeper attachment is yet another great remedy to collect monies. In this remedy the deputy sheriff takes the custody of the judgment debtor’s cash. This is highly effective when the debtor operates a cash business as it gives the sheriff the power to seize and freeze money as soon as it comes to the debtor’s business.

  • Receivership Post Judgment Injunctions

Receivership is useful because it allows the court appointed receiver to legally intercept the debtor’s mail and seize the debtor’s books and records. The receiver can be an operational receiver or a liquidating receiver, depending on court order. The issue with a receivership is that a in this scenario the judgment debtor loses control as the receiver’s court ordered mandate is to try to marshal the debtor’s funds to pay all of the creditors. Since receivership is a new civil action and a $500.00 deposit is required by the court, you could be paying to collect someone else’s debt. The positives of a receiver is that when you have a completely recalcitrant debtor it allows you to exercise control to try to get things done.
In general, a receiver has the power to:

  • Bring and defend actions,
  • Keep the property possession,
  • Receive rents,
  • Liquidate assets,
  • Seize the debtor’s mail,
  • Collect & compromise demands, and
  • Make transfers.

Contact us Today
If you have a Massachusetts judgment or a foreign judgment or an out of state judgment and need to recover your monies from the debtor in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, then call us at 508-763-6604 or email us at [email protected]. Get in touch with our attorneys to discuss your case in detail.
Practicing in pre-judgment and post-judgment debt collections for more than thirty years, our Massachusetts post-judgment collections attorneys at the Law Offices of Alan M. Cohen & Associates LLC are experienced in such cases and can use a variety of post judgment remedies in the attempt to effectively and efficiently recover your debts.
Spend your time making money. Let our attorneys spend their time chasing your bad debt.  As we say, NO Calls! No letters! Just Action, Relentless, Aggressive Action!! Results matter which is why even attorneys call us to collect their bad debt.
At the Law Offices of Alan M. Cohen & Associates LLC, we work our hardest to get you paid. And we’ll do whatever we can to make it happen and always go the extra mile for you.
Our professionalism, aggressive approach and strong customer commitment has earned us a stellar market reputation with top rankings by Peer Review Martindale-Hubbell. We have helped numerous businesses and attorneys recover their debts. We can help you too.

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