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Do Judgments Expire?

Sarah Edwards | May 31, 2024

Sarah Edwards
Legal Expert
Sarah Edwards, BS

Sarah Edwards is a professional researcher and writer specializing in legal content. An Emerson College alumna, she holds a Bachelor of Science in Communication from the prestigious Boston institution.

Edited by Hannah Locklear

Hannah Locklear
Editor at SoloSuit
Hannah Locklear, BA

Hannah Locklear is SoloSuit’s Marketing and Impact Manager. With an educational background in Linguistics, Spanish, and International Development from Brigham Young University, Hannah has also worked as a legal support specialist for several years.

Summary: Anyone can fall into debt that they can’t pay, and it’s far too easy to get a judgment filed against you. What happens to a judgment if you don’t pay it? Does the judgment ever expire? Yes, but the statute of limitations on enforcing a judgment varies by state. SoloSuit explains.

If you’ve had debt appear on your credit report, you know that it can cause problems for seven years — but that it falls off eventually. But what about if you have a judgment? Does judgment debt expire? The short answer is usually “yes,” but there’s much more to it. Here’s what you need to know.

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What is a judgment?

A judgment is a legally binding court order issued to conclude a lawsuit. If a creditor or a debt collector sues you for a debt and wins, the court will likely issue a judgment against you.

How is that different from being told you owe a debt? If there is a judgment against you, the judgment creditor (the party to whom you owe the money) can use wage garnishment and other forceful methods to collect the debt.

There are generally several steps that must happen before a judgment is issued:

  • The creditor or collector informs you of a debt owed.
  • You don’t pay the debt or don’t pay it in full.
  • The creditor or collector sends you repeated letters and calls you multiple times to get you to pay.
  • You receive a notice that a debt lawsuit has been filed against you.
  • You don’t respond to the notice in time, so the creditor or collector wins by default.

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Even if you do respond to the lawsuit, you can still get a judgment against you. For instance, if you don’t show up for further court proceedings or you go to the trial phase and lose, the court may issue a judgment.

To better see how this works, let’s consider an example.

Example: Steven gets sued by Relentless Collections, LLC for $5,000. He checks SoloSuit’s list of state deadlines and sees he has 20 days to send his Answer because he lives in Maine. Steven puts it off, and unfortunately, he misses the deadline to respond. Relentless wins by default, and the court issues a judgment against Steven for $5,000. Because Steven can’t pay all at once, Relentless starts garnishing his wages. Steven is now a judgment debtor, and Relentless Collections, LLC is his judgment creditor.


If at all possible, you want to negotiate a settlement with a collector or creditor before you get a judgment against you. If you settle before the court makes a decision, the judgment will never be issued.

Make debt settlement simple with SoloSettle by SoloSuit!

A judgment is not the same as a judgment lien

A judgment in a debt lawsuit is an order to pay the debt. Alternatively, courts sometimes issue a “judgment lien.” This is when your home, car, or another asset technically belongs to the creditor until you pay up. It works just like a mortgage or a car loan — if you don’t pay by the set time, the creditor can repossess your assets.

It’s also important to understand that while a judgment will appear on your credit report, a judgment lien will not.

Do state civil judgments expire?

The good news is that judgments do expire. The time frame depends on the state, however, and some are pretty long.

So, how long does a judgment last? Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), any judgment you get must stay on your credit report for at least seven years. Additionally, each state has its own statute of limitations on judgments. These can go up to 21 years, and if your state’s statute is more than seven years, the judgment must last until that time passes.

There is a major caveat here. Two things can restart the statute of limitations:

  • Each time you make a payment on the debt, the statute of limitations resets.
  • If the state’s statute of limitations has expired, the creditor has a certain amount of time (usually 90 days) to renew the judgment.

Suppose that your state has a statute of limitations of 20 years. If your creditor acts fast to renew its judgment against you after the first 20 years have passed, you could owe money for another two decades — with no end in sight.

Whether judgments are renewed or not depends on what the judgment creditors do. Some collectors may be so busy with newer cases that they don’t bother to renew. However, others may be very careful to renew every judgment they get.

Do federal civil judgments expire?

Like judgments at the state level, federal judgments also have statutes of limitations. These judgments have statutes of limitations of 20 years, and they can usually be renewed.

What happens if a defendant does not pay a judgment?

If you’ve ignored notices to pay a debt you owed before, you might think the best course of action after a judgment is to continue to not pay. However, that can lead to further, more serious consequences:

  • Being Held in Contempt: If a judge says you’re in contempt of court, you may face fines and jail time.
  • Bank Account Levy: The creditor can take money from your bank account, often without notice.
  • Wage Garnishment: Money may be taken out of each paycheck before you get it.
  • Liens on Property: A court can allow the creditor to put a lien on your property until you pay the debt.
  • Asset Seizure: Sometimes, the creditor might be able to take away your assets and sell them.

Even if a court judgment is paid, it will generally stay on your credit report for seven years. However, an unpaid judgment will have a much larger impact on your score than one that has been paid!

Worried about a judgment? Let SoloSuit help!

Dealing with a judgment — whether it has already happened or is going to — is incredibly stressful. However, it’s not insurmountable. At SoloSuit, we’re here to support you every step of the way as you move toward freedom from debt.

Facing a debt lawsuit? Check out SoloSuit’s helpful video guide to hearings vs. trials!

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