Selling a judgment is not like selling a house. When selling your home, the more people that know about it, the better chance for getting paid a higher price. Selling a judgment is more like selling an old car; the sale price depends on its age, model, condition; and often a qualified mechanic’s estimate. Selling a judgment for cash upfront is usually very frustrating.

This article is my opinion, and not legal advice. I am a judgment broker, and am not a lawyer. If you ever need any legal advice or a strategy to use, please contact a lawyer.

The price paid for a judgment does not depend on your needs or who you show it to; it depends on which State, the age of your judgment debtor, and their assets and circumstances. Most judgments cannot be sold cash upfront for enough money to make the judgment creditor happy.

Any possible price paid for your judgment has nothing to do with what price you want to be paid or who you talk to; it depends mostly on the due diligence done on your judgment debtor that shows they have some available assets. If your judgment debtor is unknown or cannot be found, has discharged your judgment in bankruptcy, is poor, died, hidden their assets, or is a company long out of business; nobody will buy your judgment for cash upfront.

If you want to try to sell your judgment, the first step is to make sure you have, and can send the right paperwork; which starts with a copy of the judgment. Default judgments usually sell for less because they are weaker. With default judgments, also supply a copy of the proof of service that first noticed the judgment debtor of your lawsuit.

Along with the judgment-related court documents, you need to supply what you know about your debtor(s), as few times as possible. When the debtor is a person, useful information includes their age, address, partial or full SSN, and any assets or income they might have. For companies, their web site, their address, their possible assets and income, and most importantly, are they still in business?

How much will you get paid for your judgment on a cash upfront sale? Due to the risks and uncertainty of recovery, cash upfront prices paid for judgments are always a small fraction of the judgment’s face value. Everything depends on your judgment debtor, and the average judgment sells for 1-7% cash upfront. When your debtor(s) are rich you might get paid more.

Usually, the best chance to recover the most money from your judgment, is with a future payment contingency recovery expert, that pays you at least half of what they recover over time. Especially when you do not have to assign your judgment, a future pay recovery expert is usually the best option for most judgment owners. When your debtor(s) are rich, you often get paid quickly on a contingency future payment basis.

How many buyers or judgment buying-related web sites should you share your judgment with, to get a possible quote? No matter how many you contact, everything depends only on your judgment debtor’s situation. Many creditors waste a lot of time trying to get more than their judgment is actually worth.

Consider using a judgment broker. They cost you nothing, and with them you only need to send your information once. This is important, because you should not over-share your judgment debtor’s private information. Judgment brokers do the comparison shopping for you, and keeps all the private information private.

Judgment brokers know the performance track records of the best buyers who actually and reliably pay for judgments. One more advantage of a broker is if your judgment turns out to be the kind that nobody will buy on a cash upfront basis, or pay enough for; brokers can then refer you to the best contingency collection experts. If anyone knows the cash upfront value of judgments it is a judgment broker!

Another choice is to look on the web for judgment buyers, however do not be fooled by those “50%-75% cash upfront offers” because those advertisements are usually lies. Those companies have never paid that much, and only buy about 1% of the judgments sent to them. Most of the time, most buyers you find will not buy your judgment. Another option is a judgment JudgmentMarketPlace.com, however that is probably not free to you, and the buyers there are usually the raw public, with unknown track records for buying judgments.