Florida Collection Counsel for
Attorneys.

When a matter turns from practicing law into collecting money, it becomes a different discipline and a different risk to your name. Florida attorneys, and firms in other states with a judgment against a Florida debtor, hand that work to us. The client stays yours. The recovery becomes ours to run.

Florida local counsel for referring and out-of-state firms

There are two moments when a lawyer needs a collection lawyer. The first is when the client will not pay you. The second is when you have won, the judgment is signed, and your client asks the question no trial lawyer enjoys: so when do I get the money? Both moments call for the same thing, a firm that does nothing but turn debts into payments, in Florida, without putting your client relationship or your reputation in play.

What collection counsel does for another attorney

We act as Florida collection counsel: the firm that takes a debt or a judgment from a referring attorney and handles the enforcement end to end. That includes demand and suit where there is no judgment yet, and where there is one, everything that follows: locating assets, garnishment, levy, proceedings supplementary, domesticating an out-of-state judgment so it can be enforced here, and unwinding the transfers a debtor made to look uncollectible. The referring attorney keeps the client. We keep the file moving.

For a firm outside Florida, we are the local counsel your judgment needs. A judgment from Georgia, New York, or Ohio has no force in a Florida courthouse until it is domesticated under the Florida Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act, sections 55.501 through 55.509 of the Florida Statutes. Once it is, it carries the same weight as a judgment entered here, and every Florida enforcement tool opens up. That filing, and the enforcement after it, is routine for us and a distraction for you.

Why this matters to the money

Post-judgment recovery is its own craft, and it rewards volume. The firm that runs garnishments every week knows which banks answer promptly, which sheriff's offices need what in their levy instructions, and how a debtor's fact information sheet is used to find what the debtor left off it. A litigator who does this twice a year is learning on the client's clock. Referring the recovery is usually faster, and it is almost always a better use of a trial lawyer's time.

The other reason is the one attorneys rarely say out loud. Collecting a fee from a client, or pressing a business you still represent, can cost more than the balance. A collection firm can be firm where you cannot afford to be, and can do it in a way that does not follow you. We treat every referred matter as we treat every creditor's matter: methodically, within the rules, and mindful that the person on the other end may be someone you still deal with.

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 are a partner at a mid-sized firm in Atlanta. Two years ago you tried a contract case for a logistics client and won a $310,000 judgment against a distributor. The distributor appealed, lost, and then quietly moved. Its registered agent resigned, the Georgia warehouse emptied, and your client's own research found the principal living in South Tampa and a new company operating out of a leased space near the port. Your client wants to know what you are going to do about it, and you have a trial calendar.

You refer the recovery to a Tampa collection firm. The first step is domestication: a certified copy of the Georgia judgment and an affidavit with the parties' names and addresses are recorded with the clerk in Hillsborough County, the clerk mails notice to the debtor, and after the statutory waiting period the judgment is enforceable as a Florida judgment. From there it is Florida collection work. A judgment lien certificate is filed with the Department of State. The principal is served with a fact information sheet and a subpoena for a deposition in aid of execution. The new company, which uses the old company's customer list, trucks, and phone number, is impleaded through proceedings supplementary as a possible successor. Faced with a deposition and a claim against the new entity, the principal negotiates a secured payment plan.

Throughout, the client is yours. You get status reports you can forward. When the matter resolves, the relationship is intact, and so is your calendar.

How the referral works

We work for other attorneys in two situations, and the arrangement is the same in both. When the attorney is the creditor, because a client owes a substantial fee or a business you own is owed on a contract, we handle it as we would any commercial claim: demand, suit if warranted, and enforcement. When you have won and the judgment has to be collected, we take the judgment and run the recovery. Where a fee is to be shared, it is done in writing and in compliance with the Florida Bar's rules on dividing fees between lawyers.

What you can expect: an honest assessment at intake of whether the judgment is collectible and what it will cost to find out, regular status reporting in a form you can send to your client, and a matter run on a set process from first filing to satisfaction of judgment. What you will not get is a firm that treats your client as a prospect.

Common questions

Does my client have to hire you directly?

The engagement can run through your firm or directly with the client, whichever fits your arrangement. Either way, the relationship remains yours and we report to you.

My judgment is from another state. How long does domestication take?

Once the certified copy and affidavit are recorded, the debtor has a statutory window to challenge the filing. In most counties enforcement can begin within roughly sixty days; some clerks take longer. Domestication is the beginning, not the end, and the asset work can start in parallel.

Can you tell me up front whether the judgment is worth pursuing?

Often, yes. Public records, the debtor's business filings, and any payment history you already have usually indicate whether there are assets to reach. We would rather tell you no at the start than bill you for a year of motions.

What about a client who owes my firm a fee?

That is the most common referral we receive from attorneys. We handle it with the same discipline as any commercial debt, and with the understanding that you may still have to sit across a table from that person.

The discipline behind the result

Marcadis Law is a generational law firm, and it has done the unglamorous end of creditors' rights for as long as it has existed: the enforcement, the follow-through, the file worked the same way on a good day and a bad one. When you refer a matter, we do the collecting, quietly and correctly, and hand back the result. What we bring back matters. So does what we leave intact. Call (813) 288-1881.