Once you win a lawsuit, you need to collect on it. Winning a lawsuit gives you a judgment. But the party to lost the lawsuit (loser) may not willingly pay. So you want to force the loser to pay so you can get what the court judgment says you are owed.
In Minnesota, a judgment creditor (someone who has a judgment against another party) has various statutory collection remedies. Chapter 575 of the Minnesota Statutes describes these proceedings.
A Demand for Financial Disclosures
For example, a creditor has a right to obtain certain financial information in writing. Section 550.01 establishes the procedure for a judgment creditor to obtain financial disclosures from a judgment debtor:
Unless the parties have otherwise agreed, if a judgment has been docketed in district court for at least 30 days, and the judgment is not satisfied, the judgment creditor’s attorney as an officer of the court may or the district court in the county in which the judgment originated shall, upon request of the judgment creditor, order the judgment debtor to mail by certified mail to the judgment creditor information as to the nature, amount, identity, and locations of all the debtor’s assets, liabilities, and personal earnings. The information must be provided on a form prescribed by the supreme court, and the information shall be sufficiently detailed to enable the judgment creditor to obtain satisfaction of the judgment by way of execution on nonexempt assets and earnings of the judgment debtor. The order must contain a notice that failure to complete the form and mail it to the judgment creditor within ten days after service of the order may result in a citation for civil contempt of court. Cash bail posted as a result of being cited for civil contempt of court order under this section may be ordered payable to the creditor to satisfy the judgment, either partially or fully, subject to section 588.04, paragraph (b).
See Minn. Stat. § 550.011. Here is a template for this Demand for Disclosure. Here are other templates you can use in the collection process.
An Oral Examination Regarding Financials (Deposition)
As another example, a creditor has a right to ask questions of the debtor under oath. Section 575.02 establishes the procedure for a judgment creditor to obtain an order for an examination of a judgment:
575.02 ORDER FOR EXAMINATION OF DEBTOR.
When an execution against property of the judgment debtor, or of any one of several debtors in the same judgment, is issued to the sheriff of the county where the debtor resides, or, if the debtor does not reside in the state, to the sheriff of a county where the judgment roll, or a transcript of a judgment, is filed, is returned unsatisfied, in whole or in part, the judgment creditor is entitled to an order from the judge of the district court of the district where the judgment was originally docketed or is subsequently filed, requiring the judgment debtor, or, if a corporation, any officer thereof, to appear and answer concerning the property, at a time and place specified in the order, before a judge or a referee therein named. If the person required to answer is, at the time of the service of the order, a resident of the state, or has an office in the state for the regular transaction of business in person, that person cannot be compelled to attend, pursuant to the order or to any adjournment, at a place without the county of residence or of the place of business.
See Minn. Stat. § 575.02 (emphasis added).
Conclusion
A written Demand for Disclosure of financial information and oral examination regarding financials can provide judgment creditors with the judgment-debtor’s financial information, allowing the creditor to take the first step in collecting on a judgment.