A dormant judgment can exist up to 20 years after entry of the original judgment. If a judgment is not enforced within the first seven years after its entry, it is not extinguished (or made permanently uncollectible) but instead becomes “dormant.” While a judgment is dormant, it cannot be enforced, but it is not extinguished. A Citation to Discover Assets can be used not only to obtain information from the judgment debtor directly but also from third parties, such as banks and employers. Importantly though, it can also be used to obtain information about a judgment debtor’s assets and income sources as well as to accomplish some of the more nuanced collection procedures such as entry of a Charging Order against the distributional interest of the judgment debtor who has an interest in a limited liability company. It can it be used to enter an order that could be entered in a wage garnishment proceeding. It is the dominant post-judgment collection procedure because it can be used to perform any action that could be performed by most all other post-judgment procedures. The most common type of collection action for enforcing a business judgment is the Citation to Discover Assets. This statute provides three main tools for enforcing and collecting judgments: (1) the Citation to Discover Assets (2) wage garnishment proceedings and (3) non-wage garnishment proceedings. Enforcement ActionsĮnforcement proceedings (also known as collection actions) to collect judgments are governed primarily by 735 ILCS 5/2-1402. The same statute allows the 7-year enforcement period to be extended “upon the revival of the by a proceeding…” Thus, although a judgment only has an enforcement period of seven years from the date of entry, Illinois law allows a judgment to be enforced for up to twenty-seven years after the judgment’s first entry. According to 735 ILCS 5/12-108, “no judgment shall be enforced after the expiration of seven years from the time the same is rendered.” Even if a judgment is older than seven years though, it is still possible to enforce it but the judgment must be revived first.

Under Illinois law, judgments have an enforcement time limit of seven years from the date of their entry.

Illinois law governs the enforcement and resurrection of judgments. If a judgment is old, it may need to be revived before it can be enforced. Often times a business is forced to begin enforcement proceedings to collect a judgment.

Obtaining a judgment and collecting a judgment are two different things, however. Many business owners mistakenly believe that obtaining a judgment is all that is required to receive payment.

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