Demanding an Accounting on a Long-Running Accident Judgment

Attorney Answer

You are entitled to know what is still owed. Nothing about a judgment requires anyone to pay blind for a decade. But the leverage to get an accounting sits in the court file and with a lawyer of your own, not in a request the collecting attorney is free to ignore.

Start with something that is easy to get wrong. The lawyer taking the money is not your husband's lawyer. He represents the judgment creditor, he owes his duties to that client, and he has no obligation to advise your husband or to volunteer information. That is not a reason to accept silence. It is the reason the request has to be made formally, and in writing, rather than asked as a favor.

The court file is the first place to look, and it is public. The judgment itself, any assignment of it to someone else, any writ of garnishment, any partial satisfaction, and any satisfaction of judgment are all recorded on the clerk's docket in that case. Reading it costs nothing and often answers the question of who actually holds the judgment now — after ten years, it is not always the party your husband thinks it is. How long a Florida judgment remains enforceable, what a creditor has to do to keep it alive, and what must be filed once it is paid in full are all set by statute; a Florida attorney, working from that docket, can tell you where this judgment stands.

One Florida statute here is worth reading closely, because it may already protect part of what is being paid. Fla. Stat. § 222.11(2)(a) provides: "All of the disposable earnings of a head of family whose disposable earnings are less than or equal to $750 a week are exempt from attachment or garnishment." A head of family, under the same section, is a person providing more than half the support of a child or other dependent. Above $750 a week, a head of family's disposable earnings may not be attached or garnished unless that person waived the protection in writing, and the statute requires a separate document, specific language, and at least 14-point type for a valid waiver. Section 222.11(3) carries the exemption forward for six months after those earnings are deposited in a financial institution, if the funds can be traced and identified as earnings.

That statute matters here for a blunt reason. If your husband is a head of family, some or all of what has been collected might never have been reachable by garnishment in the first place. Whether that changes anything about payments already made voluntarily is a different question, and a real one — put it to a Florida attorney rather than acting on it alone.

What you can do

1. Pull the court file. You need the county, the case number and the clerk of court; look for the judgment, any assignment, any writ of garnishment, and any satisfaction.

2. Gather every payment record you can find — bank statements, canceled checks, money order receipts, and any pay stubs showing a deduction.

3. Send the collecting attorney a written request for a current payoff figure and an itemized accounting of payments received. Send it in a way you can prove, keep a copy, and write down the date.

4. Ask a Florida attorney whether this judgment is still enforceable, whether the head-of-family exemption in § 222.11 applies to your husband, and what it takes to compel an accounting or a satisfaction of judgment.

5. Bring the docket printout and the payment records to that first conversation. Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. Two different clocks matter here, and they are not the same one. The negligence claim behind this judgment ran under Fla. Stat. § 95.11 — for accidents before March 24, 2023, the former four-year period applied, and the Legislature shortened the period for later accidents — but that clock stopped when the case was reduced to a judgment. How long the judgment itself stays enforceable, and what a creditor must do to keep or renew it, is governed by separate statutes. Do not take a date from this page; have a Florida attorney check the judgment's status against the court file.