Suit for
Judgment.

Winning the court order that makes the debt enforceable

The debtor has ignored the invoices, the calls, and the demand letter. Nothing you can do on your own will make the debtor pay. A lawsuit changes that. It ends in a judgment, and a judgment is what gives you the power to take payment from the debtor's bank account, wages, and property without the debtor's cooperation. Everything on this site that involves a sheriff or a garnishee begins here.

What a suit for judgment is

A suit for judgment is a civil lawsuit asking a court to decide that the debtor owes you a specific amount and to enter a final judgment for it. The judgment is not payment. It is the court's ruling that the debt is owed, and it is the legal foundation for enforcement: garnishment, levy, liens, proceedings supplementary, and every other post-judgment tool. Without a judgment, none of those are available. With one, all of them are, for twenty years.

In Florida, claims of $50,000 or less are filed in county court, and claims up to $8,000 can use the simplified small-claims rules; larger claims go to circuit court. The complaint states the basis of the debt, a contract, an open account, a promissory note, a guaranty, and attaches the documents. The debtor is served with the complaint and has twenty days to respond. If the debtor does not, the creditor can obtain a default judgment. If the debtor responds, the case proceeds through limited discovery to a motion for summary judgment, which in most collection cases resolves the matter because the debt is documented and the defenses are not, or to a trial.

Why this matters to your money

A judgment does three things immediately. It fixes the amount owed, including interest, costs, and, where the contract or a statute provides, attorney's fees. It starts interest running at the statutory rate, set quarterly by the state, until paid. And, once recorded and certified, it creates liens: on the debtor's real estate in any county where a certified copy is recorded, and on the debtor's personal property when a judgment lien certificate is filed with the Department of State. Those liens fix your priority against other creditors and survive a sale of the property.

The decision to sue is a decision to spend money to get money, and it deserves an honest assessment. Some debtors will pay when served, because the suit makes the debt real. Some will pay after judgment, when the first garnishment lands. Some cannot pay at all, and a judgment against them is a document to file and revisit in a few years. We look at everything we can gather before recommending suit: the documentation, the debtor's assets and income, other judgments, and whether the amount justifies the cost. When we recommend filing, it is because we believe the judgment can be collected, and we want you to understand the timeline and the costs before you decide.

Just suppose

The following is an illustrative example, written to show how the process works. It is not a real client, a real matter, or a promise of any result.

Imagine you own a seafood distributor in Pensacola, buying from the boats at the docks and selling to restaurants across the Panhandle. A restaurant group with three locations ran a $52,000 balance over four months, then changed its ordering to a competitor and stopped returning calls. Your credit application, signed by the owner, includes a personal guaranty, 1.5 percent monthly interest on past-due balances, and attorney's fees. Your demand letter went unanswered.

Your counsel reviews the file and the debtor: the restaurants are open and busy, the owner has a home in Gulf Breeze, and the county records show no other judgments. Suit is filed in Escambia County circuit court against the operating company and the owner on the guaranty, pleading the account, the interest, and the fees. The owner is served at the flagship restaurant. He hires a lawyer, who files an answer disputing the quality of some deliveries, without particulars. Counsel serves a demand for judgment and, after the document exchange produces no support for the quality claim, moves for summary judgment. The court grants it. Final judgment is entered for $52,000, plus contractual interest, plus your attorney's fees under the credit application.

The judgment is recorded in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties and a judgment lien certificate is filed. Two weeks later, facing a garnishment of the restaurants' merchant-processing account and a lien on his house, the owner's lawyer calls to arrange payment in full.

How a suit for judgment works in Florida

The complaint is drafted from your documents and filed in the county with proper venue, usually where the debtor is located or where the contract says. The debtor is served by a process server or the sheriff. If no response is filed within twenty days, a default is entered and a default judgment follows on a motion with an affidavit of the amount due. If the debtor responds, the case moves through the discovery the claim requires, which in a documented collection case is usually little, to a motion for summary judgment under Florida's current standard, which no longer allows a debtor to avoid judgment with a bare denial. Cases that survive summary judgment go to trial, typically a bench trial before a judge.

After the judgment is signed, the clerk issues it, and the creditor records a certified copy and files the judgment lien certificate. Then the collection work begins, with the fact information sheet, garnishment, levy, and the other tools described on this site.

Common questions

How long does it take to get a judgment?

A default judgment can be obtained in roughly two to three months from filing. A contested case resolved on summary judgment usually takes several months longer. A case that goes to trial depends on the court's calendar. We will give you a realistic estimate at intake.

Will I get my attorney's fees?

If your contract provides for them, or a statute applies, yes, as part of the judgment. If neither does, a demand for judgment under Florida's offer-of-judgment statute can create a fee entitlement against a debtor who refuses a reasonable settlement.

Should I sue if the debtor has nothing?

Sometimes. A judgment lasts twenty years, and circumstances change. But we will tell you when the debtor's situation makes suit a poor use of your money, and we will not recommend filing just to file.

What if the debtor files bankruptcy after I sue?

The case stops under the automatic stay, and your claim moves into the bankruptcy case, where it is asserted and protected there. See our page on creditors' rights in bankruptcy.

The discipline behind the result

Suit is the step that turns a debt into a judgment, and a judgment is the step that turns collection from a request into a right. We file when the facts and the debtor justify it, prosecute the case to judgment without wasted motion, and then do the collection work the judgment makes possible. Call (813) 288-1881.