"SUBSTITUTION OF ATTORNEY"

[nancy_h_williams]

In the State of Texas, is a 'SUBSTITUION OF ATTORNEY" needed when someone assigns me a judgment to collect for them? The judgment is for $56,000 plus court costs and attorneys fees and was filed in the District Court in 1998. Since there was an attorney then, I don't know if that form is required.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

In the State of Texas, is a 'SUBSTITUION OF ATTORNEY" needed when someone assigns me a judgment to collect for them? The judgment is for $56,000 plus court costs and attorneys fees and was filed in the District Court in 1998. Since there was an attorney then, I don't know if that form is required.

My response:

Once a judgment has been rendered, and the time for appeal has passed, the attorney / client relationship is over. However, if the attorney hasn't been paid his / her fees, that survives and you, as the Assignee of the Judgment, become obligated to pay those Attorney Fees out of any monies received on the judgment. The Attorney fees come off the top, and the balance is yours.

The judgment creditor needs to give you a signed "Assignment of Judgment" and you need to file that with the court, and serve the same on any source, along with a Writ of Execution, you intend to levy the judgment on; e.g., a bank.

IAAL

 

[JETX]

If an attorney represented the Plaintiff in the original action, the original judgment creditor MUST file a "Substitution of Attorney" form with the court before they can assign the judgment to you. (And until this is done, you have NO legal standing on the judgment.)

In Texas, once an "Attorney of Record" has been recorded with a court action, that attorney is the only person the court will recognize in any subsequent action, the court will not even recognize the original Plaintiff. Therefore, any assignment signed by the original judgment creditor is not valid... until they have that right by substituting themselves in place of the attorney of record.