02/12/2020
I just came across a sad story while reviewing cases to help judgment Plaintiffs collect their money.
In 2007, an older gentleman was convinced to invest $28,000 of his retirement money into a business plan for purchasing gas stations. The borrower failed to pay back the investor. Although the investor hired a lawyer and finally won the judgment in 2012, attempts to collect on the judgment debt remained unsuccessful until 2015 when the judgment owner finally ran out of resources to pay the lawyer to try and collect. The lawyer made attempts, but they were unsuccessful and the debtor even ignored basic discovery attempts.
The elderly investor passed away in 2019 without any compensation from the borrower and debtor, 12 years after the debtor took his $28,000 and refused to pay him back.
If the debtor was in a bad place and could not pay a man that he had reduced to poverty and renting a tiny rundown trailer, it would be a situation one could almost pity for both parties. The problem is that the debtor has not been in a bad place.
According to public records, the debtor has real property where one property has been put into a trust and the other property homestead exempted that value at over $640,000. The trust and homestead exemption are methods debtors use to try and keep real property out of reach of creditors. The debtor also has a Mercedes, truck, SUV and motorcycle with a value of approximately $130,000. The debtor still has corporations that were built with the borrowed money and continues to enjoy the financial benefits the companies provide.
The debtor continues to live a life of luxury while his investor lived a destitute life for 12 years until his death.
Florida is one of the most difficult states to collect a judgment. The laws favor the debtor. That is why legally embattled celebrities and the rich move here. They want to protect the wealth they amassed, whether they came by that wealth honestly or not.
If you feel you have hit a dead end in collecting your judgment, give us a call. It is free and we will take the time to assess your options. Don’t let money that belongs to you disappear.
