You fall into a situation where someone owes you money. No problem. Take them to court. If your case is strong, you recover a judgment for the amount owed to you. Now you have your money. Right? Not necessarily.

From the cynical eyes of an attorney, our admit-no-fault-obsessed society has, in many cases, also become a refuse-to-pay-one's-debt society. Some people will simply refuse to pay a dime to anyone, even after that person holds a judgment against them.

Generally, after a party secures a monetary judgment in a civil court action, one of three things can happen:

1. The party who owes the money will pay it, and the case ends;

2. The losing party may appeal the judgment. In such a case, the general rule (subject, of course, to exceptions) is that the judgment remains enforceable throughout the appeals process, and the only way the appealing party (the appellant) can prevent collection is to post a bond, or surety, with the court. This bond ensures that if the appellant loses on appeal (in

other words, the money judgment awarded in the trial court is affirmed), the prevailing party will be paid from the bond. If the appellant fails to post a bond, the party with the judgment may still make collection efforts; or,

3. Finally, and not so uncommon, is that the party against whom the money judgment was obtained (now called the judgment debtor) refuses to pay the judgment.

When this third scenario unfolds, as it often does, the court is powerless to compel a losing party to pay its outstanding judgment. The court can only sign a judgment to make it enforceable. It is now up to the prevailing party to make attempts to collect, or enforce, the judgment.

The plaintiff -- now called the judgment creditor -- can follow a number of procedures to enforce the judgment. These procedures include, but are not limited to, the following:

Garnish the debtor's wages. Here, a percentage of the debtor's paycheck is taken and applied towards the judgment. Garnishment is subject to limitations, and will not yield high returns quickly, unless your judgment debtor brings in a hefty salary;

Selling, by a writ of sale, the judgment debtor's personal property, such as a boat, car or these days, sports utility vehicle;

Levying on the judgment creditor's real property, such as a home.

When the creditor properly executes any of these methods of collection, the court then orders the garnishment, the writ, or whatever other procedure the plaintiff seeks. Then, for example, the employer becomes responsible to garnish the employee debtor's wages; or, the sheriff can execute a writ of sale pursuant to the court order. These same court procedures and limitations apply in a small claims action: a judge can only sign a judgment, or order of garnishment, but cannot actually aid in collection. It is always becomes the plaintiff's burden to enforce the judgment.

When the creditor does not know what assets to collect from, he may serve the judgment debtor with "Post-judgment interrogatories." These are questions posed to the judgment debtor asking for information on his or her assets. The responses must be verified (signed under penalty of perjury) by the party answering them. Additionally, the creditor may conduct an examination of the judgment debtor's assets. Here, the creditor applies to the court for an order requiring the debtor to appear in court and answer questions regarding his or her assets.

The creditor may also file and record a judgment lien on the debtor's real property. When recorded, a prospective buyer of the property will notice the lien (if that buyer performs a title search) and may require it to be paid. This may force the debtor to ultimately pay his debt.

Yet another option for the judgment creditor is to hire a private investigator or an asset locator to establish the judgment debtor's

assets (which is generally accomplished without the debtor's knowledge). This may make the collection process easier, although such measures might also be more costly to a creditor.

If you decide the hassle is not worth it, there are many collection agencies who will take a judgment and attempt collection, keeping a percentage of any recovery (usually about 30 percent of whatever the agency is able to collect).

The successful plaintiff is always entitled to costs incurred in litigation and interest from the date the judgment was awarded, or interest from the date the amount was initially due (even before any lawsuit is filed). In some cases, the successful litigant is also entitled to recover attorneys' fees.

Litigation is a two-step process. For litigation to be successful, the party or its attorney must decide at the outset whether (1) the party is able to win the case, and (2) whether any judgment would be collectible. If a prospective defendant has no money (and the prospective plaintiff is seeking a monetary return from the lawsuit), pursuing litigation against him may prove a waste of time; although that plaintiff may win, it may not be able to collect on the judgment. Or, a once-solvent judgment debtor might later declare bankruptcy, effectively preventing collection of some types of judgments (although a judgment based on fraud, for example, is not discharged by a bankruptcy filing).

A civil judgment is good for up to ten years, and may be renewed for an additional ten years. Renewal may be advantageous, because who knows what riches the judgment debtor may later acquire.