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See Rhode Island Judgment Enforcement Law below.
Below are Judgment Enforcement Collection Companies in your state and are here to serve your Judgment Recovery Needs, including asset searches, wage garnishments and bank account locators.
Judgments and Enforcement:
A judgment rendered by the court of Rhode Island may be enforced for a period of 20 years. (§ 9-1-17.) A writ of execution to levy upon a judgment debtor’s property may be issued only after 48 hours have elapsed after the entry of judgment (§ 9-25-2 ) and within 6 years from its rendition originally or from the return day of the last execution (§ 9-25-3). A money judgment may become a lien on the real property of a judgment debtor only through the execution process. The levying officer’s filing of a copy of the execution with the recorder of deeds, if any, or with the town clerk or the city clerk of the town or city in which the real estate is situated, and the entry of such execution in the books of the recorder thereof, shall create a lien on the judgment debtor’s real estate. (§ 9-26-14, § 9-26-15.) Such lien expires 20 years from the date of judgment. (§ 9-26-33.)
All of the non-exempt goods, chattels and real estate of the judgment debtor are subject to execution and attachment. (§9-25-12.) The salary or wages due or payable to a judgment debtor in excess of $50 may also be garnished. However, the entire salary or wages of any debtor due or payable from any private or public charitable corporation for the relief of the poor or in aid of unemployment to whom the debtor is the object, and the entire wages or salary due and payable form any employer where the debtor has been the object of relief from any state, federal, or municipal corporation or agency for a period of one year from and after the time when the debtor ceases to be the object of such relief, are not subject to garnishment or attachment. (§ 9-26-4.)
Loan lenders or brokers are not permitted to take any confession of judgment from a debtor except for a power of attorney authorizing enforcement of the provisions of any chattel mortgage or pledge in the event of default. (§ 19-14.1-1, § 19-14.2-2.) A rental purchase agreement may not contain a provision requiring a confession of judgment. ( § 6-44-4.)
Foreign Judgment:
The State of Rhode Island generally adopts the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act. (Title 9, Chapter 32.) Any judgment, decree or order of a court of the United States or of any other court is entitled to full faith and credit in the State of Rhode Island. (§ 9-32-1.)
A judgment creditor seeking to enforce a foreign judgment may file with the appropriate court, an authenticated copy of the foreign judgment, and an affidavit showing the name and last known post office address of the judgment debtor and the judgment creditor. The clerk of the Court and the judgment creditor are required to mail notice of the filing of the foreign judgment to the judgment debtor. The notice shall include the name and post office address of the judgment creditor and the judgment creditor’s lawyer, if any, in the state of Rhode Island. The judgment creditor must file with the court proof of mailing the notice. Lack of mailing notice of filing by the clerk does not affect the enforcement proceedings if proof of mailing by the judgment creditor has been filed. No execution or other process for enforcement of a foreign judgment filed may be issued until 20 days after the date the judgment is filed. (§ 9-32-3.)
A judgment so filed has the same effect and is subject to the same procedures, defenses, and proceedings for reopening, vacating, or staying as a judgment of the court and may be enforced or satisfied in like manner to any Rhode Island state court judgment. (§ 9-32-2.)
Interest:
Legal rate: The legal rate of interest is 12% per annum. (§ 6-26-1.)
Contract Rate: Any rate which may be agreed upon between the parties but not to exceed the maximum rate of 21% per annum or an alternate rate which is equal to 9% plus an index which is the domestic Prime Rate as published in the Money Rates section of The Wall Street Journal on the last business day of each month preceding the later of the date of the debtor’s agreement or the date on which the interest rate is redetermined in accordance with the terms of the debtor’s agreement. (§ 6-26-2.)
Judgment rate: Every judgment for money is entitled to interest at the rate of 12% per annum to the time of its discharge. (§ 9-21-8.)
Exemptions:
In general, a debtor may claim exemption of certain personal property from attachment or execution or forced sale for the payment of debts. The Rhode Island General Laws contains no provision for homestead exemption.
Personal property which may be exempt from attachment on any warrant of distress or on any other writ, original, mesne, or judicial may include wearing apparel of a debtor or of the debtor’s family; working tools of a debtor necessary in the debtor’s usual occupation, not exceeding in value the sum of $500, and the professional library of any professional person in actual practice; household furniture and family stores of a housekeeper in the whole, including beds and bedding, not exceeding in value the sum of $1,000; bibles, school books, and other books in use in the family, not exceeding in value the sum of $300; the debtor’s interest in one lot or right of burial, as the case may be, in any cemetery; wages due or accruing to any sailor; debts secured by bills of exchange or negotiable promissory notes; salary and wages of the wife and the minor children of any debtor; such other property, real, personal, or mixed, in possession or actions as is or shall be exempted from attachment and execution, either permanently or temporarily, by general or special acts, charters of incorporation, or by the policy of the law; certain qualified retirement or annuity accounts; and the right or interest of a person in an annuity, pension, profit sharing, or other retirement plan protected by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, Public Law 93-406, 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq. (§ 9-26-4.)
Statutes of Limitation:
Civil actions generally can be commenced only within certain time limitations. The time generally runs from the date a cause of action accrues or from the date injury or damages are discovered or should have been discovered.
When a cause of action accrues is a critical issue and may be different on a case by case basis. A creditor should always consult actual legal counsel to determine its right to action under the applicable statutes. Some of the time limitations relevant to credit and collection matters are as follows:
Contract 20 years § 9-1-17
Contract for sale of goods 4 years § 6A-2-725
All civil actions 10 years § 9-1-13