⚖️ DIY Judgment Collection vs Professional Services
Should You Collect Your Judgment Yourself or Hire a Professional? A Side-by-Side Comparison of Cost, Effectiveness, Time, and Results — 2025
📊 The Big Decision: DIY or Professional?
You have a judgment — a court order saying someone owes you money. Now comes the harder part: actually collecting it. You can handle collection yourself (DIY), filing the paperwork and managing enforcement on your own. Or you can hire professionals — a collection attorney, skip tracing service, or judgment enforcement specialist. Neither approach is universally better. The right choice depends on your judgment amount, the debtor’s complexity, your available time, and your comfort with legal procedures. 📊
📋 Side-by-Side Comparison
| Factor | 🔧 DIY Collection | 🏢 Professional Services |
|---|---|---|
| 💲 Upfront Cost | Low — court filing fees only ($25-$100 per motion) | Moderate to high — attorney retainer, hourly fees, or contingency percentage |
| 💰 Total Cost | Low direct cost, but high “hidden cost” in time and missed opportunities | Higher direct cost, but typically higher net recovery due to expertise |
| ⏱️ Time Investment | Significant — learning procedures, filing paperwork, managing follow-up | Minimal — professionals handle research, paperwork, and enforcement |
| 📈 Success Rate | Lower — without database access or training, many DIY collectors give up | Higher — professionals know which tools work and how to maximize recovery |
| 🔍 Debtor Location | Very limited — free people-search sites are unreliable and outdated | Comprehensive — professional skip tracing provides current address, employer, assets in 24 hours or less |
| 💼 Asset Discovery | Limited to basic public records you can search yourself | Thorough — professional asset searches cover property, vehicles, businesses, liens |
| ⚖️ Legal Knowledge | Must learn enforcement procedures, exemptions, and deadlines yourself | Professionals know the law and avoid costly procedural errors |
| 🛡️ FDCPA Compliance | Risk of inadvertent violations if you do not understand the rules | Professionals maintain FDCPA compliance as standard practice |
| 📊 Best For | Small judgments under $5,000, employed debtors with known addresses | Larger judgments, evasive debtors, complex cases, out-of-state, business defendants |
🔧 When DIY Collection Makes Sense
Small Judgment Amounts
For judgments under $5,000, attorney fees may consume a significant portion of recovery. DIY collection keeps more money in your pocket — especially if the debtor is easy to locate and has a steady job.
Known Address and Employer
If you already know where the debtor lives and works, you can file for wage garnishment yourself. Once the order is served on the employer, payments come automatically.
Simple, Local Cases
If the debtor lives in the same county, has identifiable assets, and is not evading collection, the DIY process is straightforward. File a writ of execution, instruct the sheriff, and the levy proceeds.
⚠️ DIY Limitations
📌 You cannot access professional skip tracing databases — free people-search sites are unreliable. 📌 You must learn enforcement procedures on your own — procedural errors can void levies. 📌 Your time has value — 20 hours at $50/hour is $1,000 in opportunity cost. 📌 Complex situations (out-of-state debtors, business entities, fraudulent transfers) require professional expertise.
🏢 When Professional Services Are Worth It
Larger Judgments ($5,000+)
The larger the judgment, the greater the return on professional fees. A $50,000 judgment justifies significant investment in skip tracing, asset investigation, and attorney fees.
Evasive Debtors
When the debtor has moved, changed jobs, or hidden assets, you need professional skip tracing to find them and professional asset searches to identify what they own.
Out-of-State Collection
Collecting across state lines involves domesticating the judgment, understanding different exemption laws, and navigating unfamiliar court systems. Professionals handle interstate collections routinely.
Business Entity Defendants
Collecting from businesses involves identifying the correct entity, locating business assets, pursuing alter ego liability, and navigating priority of liens.
🤝 The Hybrid Approach — Best of Both Worlds
Many successful judgment creditors use a hybrid approach — handling what they can while engaging professionals for specialized components: 🤝
📌 Hire a skip tracing service for location and asset intelligence. A professional skip trace costs a fraction of what an attorney charges, delivers results in 24 hours or less, and provides the debtor’s current address, employer, and asset leads. With this intelligence, you can file your own garnishment and levy paperwork.
📌 Handle simple enforcement yourself. Filing a writ of execution, recording a judgment lien, and requesting a wage garnishment are procedural tasks self-represented creditors can manage with proper preparation.
📌 Hire an attorney for complex proceedings. Debtor examinations, contempt motions, fraudulent transfer actions, and veil piercing claims require legal expertise.
🔍 Start Smart — Get the Intelligence First
Whether you collect yourself or hire an attorney, every successful collection starts with knowing where the debtor is and what they own. Our skip tracing and asset search services provide the foundation for effective enforcement. Results in 24 hours or less.
Order Skip Trace Now →❓ Frequently Asked Questions
📚 Related Resources
📋 Disclaimer
This guide is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Judgment enforcement procedures vary by state. People Locator Skip Tracing provides professional skip tracing and asset search services — we do not provide legal advice or legal representation. Information current as of 2025.
