Commercial collections involve suits on promissory notes, equipment leases, guarantees, debt instruments and the collecting of foreign judgments. It is a two step process:

First, obtaining a judgment – a legal determination that one party owes another party a certain sum of money;

Second, collecting the judgment through writes of executions, writs of garnishment, writs of attachment, and turnover orders.

In Texas, a lot of assets are exempt from collection efforts. For example, in Texas a person’s wages are exempt from garnishment. An individual’s homestead is exempt. An urban homestead consists of nor more than 10 acres, irrespective of value. A rural homestead consists of not more than 100 acres for a single person and 200 acres for a family. Additionally, the following personal property ($30,000 for a single person and $60,000 for a family is exempt:

Home furnishings;
Farming and/or ranching vehicles and implements;
Motor vehicle for each member of family;
Two firearms;
Twelve heads of cattle, 60 heads of other types of livestock, 120 fowl, etc.; and
More retirement accounts, 401k accounts, IRA’s and annuities.

Because the exemptions in Texas are so liberal, we restrict our collection practice to commercial collections – one business collecting money from another business, or one business collecting money from an individual of substantial means.

If you or your business has not already obtained a judgment against a business or party, we will be glad to initial a lawsuit to reduce your claim to a judgment.

If you have already obtained a judgment against a business or a party in another state, we will be glad to try to collect the judgment in Texas under the Uniform Foreign Judgments Act.

Once a judgment is obtained, we will levy execution, writs of garnishment, and initiate turnover actions in an effort to collect the money.