Cold Cases & Compliance- Making things right
Criminal cases never really go away; they remain unsolved unless someone picks them up again. The case remains open and unsolved after a period of three years. Fine and Cost debt can also go cold. After pursing payments during the first year a debt is ordered, recovery efforts are turned over to collection agents.
But as time passes these financial obligations remain unpaid and turn cold. A judgment lien gives the creditor the right to be paid from any property sale proceeds of the debtor. Few court fines are satisfied from judgment liens. But the judgment lien list provides a trail on these compliance cold cases.
The combination of both Circuit and County Criminal fines placed on liens state-wide over the six-year period from 2013 through 2018 equals $748,509,122 million dollars. 2019 increased that amount by $79.7 million dollars. This puts the lien debt total at over $828 million dollars over a seven-year period. Data compiled by Florida Court Clerks and Comptroller
Some debts are repaid through collection agent recovery efforts and debt amnesty campaigns such as Operation Greenlight. For those remaining open some Clerk’s offices are negotiating unpaid balance using lien account records to chase older cases with unpaid fine obligations.
The Clerk’s office in Palm Beach County looked at how to resolve this past due debt. The initial program in 2017 settled 138 cases and recovered 310,919.46. Debt negotiation is based on age of the case waiving collection agent fees and judgment lien interest. Cases are negotiated from 15% for cases less than 5 years for up to 50% for cases 10 years and older.
The Volusia County Clerk’s Office has outsourced lien collections with a collection agency. Procedures for negotiations included limits on lien accounts with an aggregate balance of at least $1,000 and a final adjudication older than 2 years. Cases 2-5 years old may be settled for 75% of the amount of the obligation. Cases older than 5 years may be settled for 50% of the amount of the obligation.
The Hillsborough County Clerk’s office works with both of their collection agents. Judgments that are four years older or older may be negotiated up to 75% of the original debt due. Judgments that are two to four years old are negotiated up to 55% of the original debt due. Debt that is less than two years old can be modified up to 25%.
Opportunity exists to resolve unpaid fine accounts which closes out customer debt and provides collections revenue. Clerks have the authority to negotiate fine balances through Florida Statute 938.30 (9) these balances. In a seven-year span $828 million dollars of fines and costs were placed on judgment liens. A lien and debt recovery project can be initiated through current staffing or outsourced. It becomes a matter of focus. At Compliance Improvement Services we have both the background and resources to help Clerks. Today is good time to get started.
Don Murphy is the Principal and Senior Consultant for Compliance Improvement Services (CIS) which provides consulting and training for courts and local government. He is a Fellow with the National Center for State Courts and has over 25 years of court administration experience.