We have a customer that just will not pay their bills. We stopped doing work for them some time ago and they owe us what I consider a substantial amount of money. They dispute nothing we say, they don't dispute owing us the money, they just won't pay it. In the last 12 months, I think they have made 3 small payments on it, with the last one being probably in the summer some time. We have repeatedly asked for a detailed plan on when they plan to pay us and they refuse to do that. They will say "We're sending out a check at the end of this week", and then they send nothing. When it doesn't come and we contact them, they just refuse to answer us. So we'll lose contact with them for another month or so.

The last thing I want is to give 1/2 of what's due to some collection agency or lawyer, unless it's the last play in the book. In talking with a customer of ours, they said "file a judgement against them, we do it all the time". They said it doesn't cost anything, you just go to the courthouse, file it, then it goes before a judge, if you show the documentation from the invoices due, along with email correspondence, then the judge will take action against their bank accounts and/or property.

Anyone have any experience with this? Is that how it all works? Does it work?

We'll probably contact our lawyer tomorrow about it, but I'm hoping to gain some insight into it all before then.