JUDGMENT CREDITOR
A party to which a debt is owed that has proved
the debt in a legal proceeding and that is entitled
to use judicial process to collect the debt; the owner
of an unsatisfied court decision.
A party that wins a monetary award in a law-
suit is known as a judgment creditor until the
award is paid, or satisfied. The losing party,
which must pay the award, is known as a JUDG-
MENT DEBTOR. A judgment creditor is legally
entitled to enforce the debt with the assistance of
the court.
State laws provide remedies to a judgment
creditor in collecting the amount of the judg-
ment. These measures bring the debtor’s prop-
erty into the custody of the court in order to
satisfy the debtor’s obligation: they involve the
seizure of property and money. The process of
enforcing the judgment debt in this way is called
execution. The process commences with a hear-
ing called a supplementary proceeding. The
judgment debtor is summoned to appear before
the court for a hearing to determine the nature
and value of the debtor’s property. If the prop-
erty is subject to execution, the court orders the
debtor to relinquish it.
Because debtors sometimes fail to surrender
property to the court, other means of satisfying
the debt may be necessary. In these cases the law
refers to an unsatisfied execution—an outstand-
ing and unfulfilled order by the court for prop-
erty to be given up. Usually this will lead the
judgment creditor to seek a writ of attachment,
the legal means by which property is seized. To
secure a writ of attachment, the judgment cred-
itor must first place a judgment lien on the
property. Also called an encumbrance, a lien is a
legal claim on the debtor’s property that gives
the creditor a qualified right to it. Creditors
holding liens are called secured creditors. The
writ of attachment sets in motion the process of
a levy, by which a sheriff or other state official
actually seizes the property and takes it into the
physical possession of the court. The property
can then be sold to satisfy the debt.
Occasionally the judgment creditor is frus-
trated in the course of enforcing a judgment debt.
Debtors may transfer property to another owner,
which makes collection through attachment
more difficult. Liens on property usually prevent
the transfer of ownership. Where a transfer of
ownership has occurred, state laws usually allow
the judgment creditor to sue the third party who
now possesses the property. Some states provide
additional statutory relief to creditors in cases
where debtors fraudulently transfer assets in
order to escape a judgment debt. Florida’s Uni-
form Fraudulent Transfer Act (Fla. Stat. § 726.101
et seq.), for instance, allows creditors more time
to pursue enforcement of the debt.
Another process for recovery is GARNISH-
MENT, which targets the judgment debtor’s
salary or income. Through garnishment a por-
tion of the judgment debtor’s income is regu-
larly deducted and paid to the judgment
creditor. The creditor is known as a garnishor,
