UEFJA in Georgia: Filing, Collecting, and Dormancy

Domesticating a foreign judgment in Georgia is a registration process, not a new lawsuit. Under the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act (UEFJA), codified at O.C.G.A. 9-12-130 through 9-12-138, a judgment creditor files an authenticated copy of the out-of-state judgment with a Georgia court clerk, and once filed it carries the same force as a judgment entered by that Georgia court.¹ One catch worth checking before you start: Georgia’s UEFJA only recognizes judgments from states that have adopted the UEFJA in substantially the same form.² If the originating state has not, you cannot use this shortcut, though you retain the right to bring a traditional action on the judgment in Georgia.³

Which Judgments Qualifyh2>

The UEFJA reaches judgments, decrees, and orders from other state courts and federal courts that are entitled to full faith and credit under the U.S. Constitution.¹ It covers monetary judgments. It does not cover child custody orders or divorce decrees, which have their own frameworks.

It also does not reach judgments from other countries. Those are handled under Georgia’s Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments Recognition Act at O.C.G.A. 9-12-110 through 9-12-119, which has its own recognition procedure and a broader set of grounds for refusal.⁴

How to File the Judgment

You file an authenticated copy of the judgment with the clerk of any Georgia court of competent jurisdiction.¹ Authentication means the copy is certified in accordance with federal law or Georgia statutes, which typically involves a certificate from the issuing court’s clerk. Most creditors file in the superior court of the county where the debtor lives or owns property, because that is where garnishment and liens will play out.

With the judgment, the creditor or the creditor’s attorney files an affidavit giving the name and last known post office address of both the judgment debtor and the judgment creditor.⁵ Filing fees match those for other civil cases in superior court under O.C.G.A. 15-6-77, generally around $200 depending on the county.⁶

Once filed, the judgment immediately has the same effect as a judgment originally entered by that Georgia court and is subject to the same enforcement procedures, defenses, and proceedings for reopening, vacating, or staying.¹

Notice to the Debtor

After the filing, the clerk promptly mails notice to the debtor at the address in the affidavit and enters the mailing in the docket. The notice includes the creditor’s name and post office address, and if the creditor has a Georgia attorney, that attorney’s name and address too.⁵

The creditor may also mail notice independently and file proof of that mailing. Doing so protects the case: if the clerk fails to send notice, enforcement is not affected as long as the creditor has filed proof of its own mailing.⁵ Relying only on the clerk is an avoidable risk.

Georgia’s usual service-of-process rules under O.C.G.A. 9-11-4 do not apply here. The statute expressly exempts UEFJA filings, so no personal service by a sheriff or process server is required. The mailing procedure is the notice.

How a Debtor Can Fight or Delay Enforcement

Because the domesticated judgment is treated like a Georgia judgment, the debtor can raise any ground that would justify reopening, vacating, or staying a Georgia judgment. Common ones include:

Lack of personal jurisdiction in the originating court, whether from defective service or insufficient contacts with that state.
The judgment is not final because an appeal or post-judgment motion is pending.
The judgment has already been paid in whole or in part.
The judgment was obtained by fraud or in a proceeding that denied the debtor due process.

If the debtor shows an appeal is pending in the originating state and has posted whatever security that state requires, the Georgia court must stay enforcement until the appeal ends or the time to appeal runs out. A debtor whose appeal window is still open can also seek a stay on any ground that would justify staying a Georgia judgment, and the court may require security under Georgia law.⁷

Interest After Domestication

Once filed in Georgia, the judgment accrues interest under Georgia law. The default rate is the federal prime rate on the date the judgment was entered plus 3 percent annually.⁸ If the underlying judgment was based on a written contract with a specified interest rate, the judgment carries that contractual rate instead. Whether Georgia’s rate or the originating state’s rate governs after domestication can become a point of dispute, so it is worth confirming what rate the original judgment already carries.

Collecting on the Judgment

After filing, and absent a stay, the creditor can use every enforcement tool available for a Georgia judgment.

Garnishment

Wage garnishment lets the creditor redirect part of the debtor’s paycheck. Federal law caps this at the lesser of 25 percent of disposable earnings for the week, or the amount by which those earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage.⁹ Georgia follows those limits. If disposable income falls below 30 times the minimum wage, none of it can be garnished. Disposable earnings are what remains after legally required deductions such as federal and state taxes, Social Security, and unemployment insurance; voluntary deductions like 401(k) contributions are not subtracted.

Bank garnishment works by serving a summons on the debtor’s financial institution, which freezes the funds. Some deposits are protected. Social Security benefits are generally exempt from private-creditor garnishment, and Supplemental Security Income is fully exempt even from federal debts. Debtors who receive these funds are better off keeping them in a separate account, because commingling makes it harder to prove exempt status at a hearing.

Liens on Real Property

A Georgia judgment does not automatically attach to the debtor’s real estate. To create a lien, the judgment or a writ of fieri facias must be recorded in the office of the clerk of the superior court in the county where the property sits and entered in the applicable indexes.¹⁰ Once recorded, the lien blocks a sale or refinance without satisfying the debt and stays in place until the judgment is paid or goes dormant.

Writ of Fieri Facias

If the debtor will not pay, the creditor can obtain a writ of fieri facias, commonly called a “fi. fa.,” which authorizes a sheriff or marshal to seize and sell the debtor’s non-exempt property at public auction.¹¹

Exemptions the Debtor Can Claim

Georgia shields certain property from seizure under O.C.G.A. 44-13-100, including limited equity in a primary residence, motor vehicles, household goods, jewelry, tools of the trade, and a small wild-card amount that can absorb otherwise non-exempt property such as a bank balance.¹² The dollar caps are modest compared to some states, so many debtors have meaningful non-exempt assets available to a fi. fa.

Finding Out What the Debtor Owns

Collection depends on knowing where the assets are. Under O.C.G.A. 9-11-69, a judgment creditor can use the same discovery tools available before trial — depositions, interrogatories, and document requests — aimed at the debtor or third parties who may have information about the debtor’s property or income.¹³ Any question likely to lead to property or income sources is fair game, and the debtor cannot refuse to answer on the ground that answering will lead to losing property, because the debt is already established. The geographic limits that normally restrict where a deposition can occur do not apply after judgment, so a Georgia court can compel a non-resident debtor to sit for a deposition in the state.

Georgia also allows standardized post-judgment interrogatories requiring the debtor to disclose employer, real estate, business interests, receivables, bank accounts, and personal property worth more than $100. Ignoring them opens the door to a motion to compel, and continued refusal can lead to contempt.

Dormancy and the Outer Deadline

Georgia judgments do not last forever. A judgment goes dormant and becomes unenforceable if seven years pass without qualifying activity. The creditor keeps it alive by issuing an execution and having it entered on the general execution docket, having an authorized officer make and record an entry on the execution, or filing written notice of a bona fide enforcement effort with the clerk, each of which starts a new seven-year window.¹⁴

A dormant judgment can be revived within three years through a renewal action or a proceeding called scire facias.¹⁵ Miss that window and the judgment is effectively dead. The practical outer limit is roughly ten years from the last qualifying entry: seven to dormancy plus three to revive. A judgment that stayed alive in the originating state can still go dormant in Georgia, so calendar these deadlines from the date of the Georgia filing forward.

1
Justia Law. Georgia Code 9-12-132 – Filing of Judgment; Force and Effect Following Filing
2
FindLaw. Georgia Code Title 9 Civil Practice 9-12-138 – Judgments to Which Article Applies
3
Justia Law. Georgia Code 9-12-136 – Actions to Enforce Judgments Preserved
4
Justia Law. Georgia Code Title 9 Chapter 12 Article 5 – Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments Recognition Act
5
Justia Law. Georgia Code 9-12-133 – Filing of Foreign Judgment; Notice to Judgment Debtor; Code Section 9-11-4 Inapplicable to Article
6
FindLaw. Georgia Code Title 9 Civil Practice 9-12-135 – Clerk’s Fees
7
Justia Law. Georgia Code 9-12-134 – Appeal or Stay of Foreign Judgment; Security for Satisfaction
8
Justia Law. Georgia Code 7-4-12 – Interest on Judgments
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1673 – Restriction on Garnishment
10
Justia Law. Georgia Code 9-12-86 – Recordation in County Where Real Property Located
11
Justia Law. Georgia Code 9-13-5 – Amendment of Execution
12
Justia Law. Georgia Code 44-13-100 – Exemptions for Purposes of Bankruptcy and Enforcement
13
Justia Law. Georgia Code 9-11-69 – Execution; Discovery in Aid Thereof
14
Justia Law. Georgia Code 9-12-60 – When Judgment Becomes Dormant
15
Justia Law. Georgia Code 9-12-61 – Dormant Judgments Renewed by Action or Scire Facias; Time of Renewal