Taking Over a Judgment for Enforcement

You won. Your client has a judgment. The next phase is collection, and post-judgment enforcement isn’t your practice. You want a firm that will take the file, run enforcement, keep you informed, and not poach your client.

We take judgments from outside counsel as a regular part of our practice. We have handled commercial collections in Texas since 1994, and today we have 15 lawyers whose work spans the full post-judgment toolkit: discovery, depositions, abstracts, garnishment, execution, turnover, receivership, contempt, and appeal-period enforcement. Many of our matters arrive as referrals from outside counsel at exactly this stage.

This page describes the handoff itself: what to send, what we do first, what your continuing role as referring counsel looks like, and how the relationship works.

What to Send the Firm

For a clean handoff, here is what we need.

Core documents:

The judgment (and any amended, modified, or supplemental judgment)
The case style, cause number, and court
The petition and the answer (if one was filed)
Key trial exhibits relating to the debtor’s identity, business form, and finances
Any post-judgment work already done: discovery served, responses received, depositions taken, writs issued, abstracts recorded, garnishments served, partial recoveries collected
Any prior or pending appeal materials, including supersedeas-related filings
The file’s correspondence with the debtor and with prior counsel

What we want to know about the client and the matter:

The client’s identity and contact information
The client’s expectations and prior frustrations with the matter
What the client knows about the debtor: current address, business activities, known assets, prior contact, family situation, indicators of distress or wealth
Whether other creditors have judgments or claims against the same debtor
Whether the debtor has filed bankruptcy, threatened bankruptcy, or shown signs of imminent insolvency
Whether there are non-debtor parties (guarantors, related entities, family members holding assets) whose pursuit may be relevant

What we’ll need from you as referring counsel:

A signed engagement letter with the client (we prepare this)
A written fee-sharing arrangement, where applicable, complying with Texas Disciplinary Rule 1.04(f)
Confirmation of how you want to be involved going forward

If you don’t have all of this, send what you have. We reconstruct portions of the file from court records when needed and proceed from where we can.

The Engagement Structure

We structure referrals to be clear, compliant, and easy on both lawyers.

The client’s engagement. We sign a written engagement letter with the client at the outset. It scopes our work (typically post-judgment enforcement only, unless you want us to handle other phases), describes our fee structure, and, where Rule 1.04(f) applies, discloses the fee-sharing arrangement with you and obtains the client’s written consent.

The fee structure. We use several structures depending on the matter:

Hourly engagements for sophisticated commercial matters where the work is variable and a fixed structure doesn’t fit
Modified contingency for matters where we and the client share recovery risk
Pure contingency for some matters, particularly where recovery is uncertain and the litigation cost is bounded

The fee-sharing arrangement with referring counsel is documented separately and complies with Rule 1.04(f). Common arrangements include a referral percentage paid out of our fee, a co-counsel fee division on a proportional basis, or a flat referral fee on certain matter types. The structure is your choice, within the bounds of the rule.

No solicitation of other work from the client. Our practice is collections. We do not solicit family, transactional, employment, or general commercial work from your client. When the collection matter concludes, the client goes back to you for everything else.

What the Firm Does in the First 30 Days

When a judgment matter arrives, our first 30 days look roughly like this.

Days 1–7 (intake and triage):

File review and matter assessment by the assigned lawyer
Initial conversation with the client (at your preferred level of involvement)
Court records pull on the underlying case to confirm the judgment is final, identify any appellate posture, and check for prior post-judgment activity not in your file
Identification of the judgment’s age relative to dormancy and limitations, and any imminent issues (statute of limitations on collateral claims, expiring abstracts, pending appeal deadlines)
Determination of whether the judgment has already been abstracted, and where

Days 7–14 (foundation work):

Recording or re-recording abstracts of judgment in counties where the debtor owns or may own real property
Public-records research on the debtor: real property holdings, UCC filings, business records, prior litigation, criminal history (where relevant), known affiliated entities
Review of any post-judgment discovery already served or answered
Initial demand or contact with the debtor (where our appearance is itself a useful pressure point)

Days 14–30 (active enforcement):

Service of post-judgment written discovery (interrogatories, requests for production, requests for disclosure) under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 621a
Issuance of writs of garnishment against any bank accounts already identified
Subpoenas to third parties holding information about the debtor’s assets: banks, accountants, business associates, payment processors
Updates to the client and to you on what has been done and what is next

By day 30, most matters have an actively developing enforcement record. By day 60 to 90, most have produced either meaningful recovery, a clear enforcement path, or specific obstacles that call for strategic decisions.

The Distinctive Capabilities Worth Knowing About

Our collections practice has a few distinctive capabilities that are worth knowing about when you’re weighing us against the alternatives.

Net-worth-affidavit challenges in supersedeas. When the underlying judgment is on appeal and the debtor files a net-worth affidavit under Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 24.2(c) to reduce the supersedeas bond, we have the accounting depth to challenge the affidavit. We have convinced trial courts to strike net-worth affidavits and have consistently forced debtors to post larger bonds than they claimed they needed. This capability is uncommon.

Asset investigation in difficult matters. For matters where the debtor uses trusts, layered entities, or out-of-state holdings to hide assets, our investigation practice (post-judgment discovery, public records, third-party subpoenas, and targeted depositions) has produced results in cases other firms gave up on.

Receivership and turnover practice. Receivership is underused by general practitioners. We use it where it makes sense and have working relationships with receivers experienced in collection-context appointments.

Multi-state coordination. We regularly work with counsel in other states on inbound and outbound matters: Texas judgments enforced in California, New York, Illinois, Florida, and other major jurisdictions, and out-of-state judgments registered in Texas under Chapter 35 and enforced.

Contempt practice. When the matter has justified it, we have secured contempt findings, body attachments, and the jailing of judgment debtors who would not cooperate.

How the Referring Lawyer’s Role Continues

Referring lawyers vary in how involved they want to be after the handoff, and we accommodate each.

Full handoff with milestone updates. We run the matter independently and send you milestone updates as material events occur. Most referring lawyers prefer this.

Active co-counsel. You stay substantively involved: copied on filings, consulted on strategic decisions, present at significant hearings or depositions when you want to be. This is more common when you have a long-standing relationship with the client and the client expects your continued direct involvement.

Strategic consultation only. We run the matter and consult you only on major strategic decisions (settlement offers, whether to pursue contempt, whether to pursue receivership). This is the lightest-touch structure and works for lawyers who want to know the matter is being handled without staying current on every detail.

We set the communication structure at intake and adjust it as the matter develops.

Common Referral Scenarios

We see a recurring set of referral situations.

Post-trial transactional or general-practice lawyer. A commercial litigator handled the underlying case but doesn’t run post-judgment work, so the matter comes to us for collection.

Solo or small-firm civil litigator with a successful trial. The lawyer won, the judgment is signed, and post-judgment enforcement is outside the lawyer’s typical practice.

Out-of-state counsel with a Texas debtor. A lawyer in another state has a judgment whose debtor has Texas assets, and we domesticate and enforce it in Texas.

In-house counsel without internal collections capacity. Corporate or institutional in-house counsel refers the post-judgment phase to outside specialty counsel.

Lawyer whose client has lost patience. The lawyer prosecuted the matter and obtained a judgment, but over time the client has lost patience with the pace of post-judgment work. Bringing in specialty counsel resets the matter.

Each of these is a regular part of our docket.

Make the Referral

If you have a judgment that needs collections counsel, contact us. Initial referral conversations are without obligation, and we can typically have the engagement structured and the matter underway within a week or two of that first conversation.

Referral FAQs

How does the firm structure referral fees?

Per Rule 1.04(f), with written client disclosure and consent. Common structures include a referral percentage of our fee, proportional fee division in co-counsel arrangements, and flat referral fees on certain matter types. The structure is your choice, within the rule.

Will the firm take a partial referral: for example, only the contempt phase?

Yes. Our referral docket includes matters where the referring lawyer has done substantial post-judgment work and we're brought in for a specific phase, typically contempt, receivership, multi-state enforcement, or net-worth-affidavit challenges. We scope the engagement to that phase.

What if my client wants me to remain primary point of contact?

That is your call. Some referring lawyers want all client communication routed through them, others want us to communicate directly with the client, and others want a mix. We confirm your preference at intake and follow it.

What does the firm charge?

Hourly engagements are most common for referral work. Modified-contingency and pure-contingency arrangements are available for some matters. Fee structure is part of the intake conversation and depends on the matter's profile.

Will the firm take small judgments?

We evaluate fit case-by-case. Small judgments are sometimes economic to actively pursue (where the debtor has assets and is simply resistant) and sometimes not (where the cost of pursuit exceeds the realistic recovery). We tell you candidly at intake.

Does the firm handle bankruptcy if the debtor files?

We do not act as bankruptcy counsel. When a debtor files bankruptcy, we coordinate with the client's bankruptcy counsel on proof-of-claim filing, dischargeability analysis, and continued state-court enforcement against any non-bankrupt parties.

What if the underlying judgment has problems?

Sometimes referring lawyers arrive with judgments that have issues: dormancy, incomplete service, ambiguous principal-vs-interest accounting, pending post-judgment relief motions, collateral attacks, or ambiguities about what was actually awarded. We handle these. The first step is to evaluate the judgment's actual posture and decide what, if anything, needs to be addressed before enforcement can move forward.

Can the firm handle the appeal of the underlying judgment?

We handle appellate work that arises in the post-judgment enforcement context: supersedeas issues, appeals of post-judgment orders, and appeals of judgment-enforcement rulings. For appeals of the underlying judgment itself, we typically coordinate with appellate counsel rather than handling those appeals directly.

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Handing Off a Judgment for Post-Judgment Enforcement

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