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Can only one plaintiff sign?

Q. When I won my judgment, I was one of two plaintiffs. Now the other plaintiff is gone, and I can't find them. Can I alone, assign my judgment to a Judgment Enforcer?

A: We are not lawyers. Our opinion is that when there are more than one plaintiffs on a judgment, all plaintiffs need to sign (at a notary, see our Notary article). Notarization of all plaintiff signatures is required, to assign a judgment to a Judgment Enforcer - or to sign an agreement with a collections attorney or agency.

However, if the other plaintiff was a relative that died, and you or someone else is the executor of their estate, the executor can sign the paperwork (at a notary) as Person (Executor's name), Executor for Person (dead person's name). It's a good idea to provide a copy of the death certificate.

JudgmentBuy refers you to the best contingency collection attorneys. (See our Contingency Attorneys article.)

Note, if an attorney is retained to recover your judgment, the attorney can retain the non-client's funds, and try to locate the other plaintiffs. Usually, the lawyer cannot take their attorney's contingency fee out of the non-client's share of recovered funds.

Unless the judgment specifies an apportionment of the judgment, for example plaintiff A is owed $70k, and plaintiff B is owed $30k, then it is presumed there is a 50/50 ownership of the judgment.

In most states, there is an "unclaimed funds" system set up with the secretary of state. If the other plaintiffs cannot be located, lawyers often submit the non-client's funds to the secretary of state's unclaimed funds system, and then they would try to locate the missing plaintiff(s).

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