You have a judgment from a court in a state other than Texas.  But, your judgment debtor either lives in Texas or has assets in Texas.  Can you collect your sister-state judgment in Texas?  Yes, you can.  There are two ways you can collect your judgment in Texas.  The first is by far the fastest and easiest way.  And, it is something you can do without an attorney.  The second is a bit more complex.  You should not attempt it without the assistance of a Texas attorney.  I will discuss the details of the first method.

The Affidavit Procedure

The easiest way to collect a sister-state judgment in Texas is the affidavit procedure.  Texas has adopted the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act.  Under this Act, you can file a copy of your sister-state judgment with any court of competent jurisdiction.  Along with the judgment, you must file an affidavit giving your name and address and the name and last known address of your judgment debtor.

Before a Texas court will accept your judgment filing and affidavit, your judgment must be properly authenticated.  This basically means there must be evidence that your judgment is actually what it purports to be.  In other words, there must be evidence that your judgment is a real, genuine and authentic judgment rendered by a court in your state.  The Texas Rules of Evidence provide that certain documents are self-authenticated.  A self-authenticated document is one in which the genuineness of the document is obvious from the document itself.  Self-authenticated documents are presumed to be genuine and authentic.

In the case of your sister-state judgment, you can make the judgment a self-authenticating document for purposes of the Texas Rules of Evidence by simply having a certified copy of that judgment.  So, rather than photocopying your judgment and attaching it to the affidavit, you need to have the clerk of the court that issued the judgment provide you a certified copy of that judgment.  Attach the certified copy to your affidavit and file both with a Texas court of competent jurisdiction.

Competent Jurisdiction

Your judgment and affidavit must be filed in a Texas court of competent jurisdiction.  There are potentially four different courts in Texas where you can file your judgment.  They are the Justice Court, the County Court, the County Court at Law and the District Court.  You will have to determine the proper court for your judgment.  To make that determination, you will need to understand the phrase competent jurisdiction. 

In an overly simplistic explanation, think of Texas Court jurisdiction in civil matters (i.e., non-criminal cases) as being divided by money.  What this means is that each court in Texas has jurisdiction in civil matters on the basis of the amount of money at issue.  It breaks down as follows:

Justice Court - up to a maximum of $10,000

County Court  - $200 - $10,000

County Court at Law - $200 - $100,000

District Court - $200 and up

So, to determine the court of competent jurisdiction for your sister-state judgment, you just need to look at the amount of your judgment.  If, for instance, your judgment is for $5,000, you can choose to file the judgment and affidavit in either a Justice Court, County Court, County Court at Law or District Court.  But, if your judgment is for $15,000 you can only file it in the County Court at Law or District Court.

Once you determine the court of competent jurisdiction, you need to determine the proper county for filing.  The proper county for filing is either the Texas county in which your judgment debtor lives or the county in which he has assets.