Also known as: judgement creditor · judgment-creditor
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A person who has obtained a court judgment awarding a sum of money and who possesses the legal right to enforce execution of that judgment against the debtor's assets.
Jerome Jackson obtained a judgment against a trust beneficiary after providing legal services to protect the beneficiary's interest in the trust. The court permitted Jackson to attach present and future distributions despite a spendthrift provision because his services qualified under the statutory exception for such creditors.
Jennings Forge obtained a judgment against a limited partnership. The firm then sought to levy on a general partner's personal assets without first obtaining a separate judgment against that partner or satisfying any statutory exception. The court denied the levy because the conditions for reaching the partner's assets had not been met.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Justin Jarvis won a judgment against a general partnership. He attempted to execute directly against an individual partner's personal assets based solely on the partnership judgment. The court refused the execution because no separate judgment existed against the partner and none of the statutory predicates for levying on partner assets were present.
Jacob Jennings held a judgment against a limited partnership whose assets proved clearly insufficient. After showing that exhaustion would be excessively burdensome, the court granted permission for Jennings to levy on a general partner's personal assets under its equitable authority.
Jessica Jacobs obtained a judgment against a general partnership. Partnership assets were plainly inadequate and exhaustion would impose excessive burdens. The court exercised its equitable powers to permit Jacobs to levy execution against an individual partner's assets.
Jennifer Jackson secured a judgment against a partner in a general partnership. On her application the court entered a charging order creating a lien on the partner's transferable interest and directing the partnership to pay future distributions to Jackson until the judgment was satisfied.
The exclusive remedy is a charging order that places a lien on the partner's transferable interest and diverts distributions to the creditor. The creditor cannot seize partnership assets or become a partner.
Supporting sources
Levy is permitted only when the partner is personally liable and either a separate judgment against the partner exists with an unsatisfied writ, the partnership is in bankruptcy, the partner agreed to bypass partnership assets, or a court grants equitable permission after finding partnership assets insufficient.
No. A spendthrift provision is unenforceable against a judgment creditor who provided services protecting the beneficiary's interest in the trust, allowing attachment of distributions.
Supporting sources
The creditor must demonstrate that distributions under the charging order will not satisfy the judgment within a reasonable time. Foreclosure then permits sale of the transferable interest, though the purchaser receives only economic rights.
Supporting sources
…equity rule in the federal courts that only someone with a defined interest in the estate of an insolvent person, e.g., a judgment creditor, can protect that interest through receivership. But the Court recognized that if the Delaware statute had been one not regulating the powers of the Chancery Court of Delaware but creating…