I. Introduction -
It is not difficult to imagine that you file an action to recover a loss and the defendant hastily transfers the cash to friends, wires money to relatives overseas, hides the vehicles out of state, and dumps his real property (except homestead in Florida). As your action proceeds at a snails pace because of extensive discoveries, quests, and motion practice from defense counsel’s delay, any opportunity to recover from the defendant may be dashed by the time the Judge enters judgment and you seek to execute and get nothing. To forestall such a result, it may be possible to secure a defendant’s property before he gets rid of it. Absent securing the property before transfers take place, there are also tools to help identify and unwind fraudulent transfers.
The first section of the paper will discuss prejudgment attachment – a statutory remedy available in most states to seize a defendant’s property at the commencement of a lawsuit. Although the rules governing prejudgment attachment vary from state to state, we will analyze some of the common features and requirements of prejudgment attachment and then give a summary of the law for the states East of the Mississippi.
Please see full publication below for more information.