How to Collect Your Judgment in Kansas
You already won. Here's how to actually get paid — debtor's exam, wage garnishment, bank levies, and property liens, with the exact Kansas forms and deadlines.
Your collection options in Kansas
Work them roughly in this order — find the assets first, then go after them.
Find the money — debtor's asset exam
Compels the debtor to disclose, under oath, where they bank, work, and what they own — the information every other step depends on.
Use the Kansas Judicial Council 'Execution and Hearings in Aid' forms to order the debtor to appear and answer questions about assets. If the debtor requests a hearing to contest, the court holds it within 10 days of the request. Forms at the Kansas Judicial Council (chapter 60 / chapter 61 civil actions).
Garnish wages
Form Kansas Judicial Council forms: Request for Garnishment (earnings), Order of Garnishment (earnings), Instructions to Garnishee (earnings); for bank/other property use the (nonearnings) versions.Diverts part of the debtor's paycheck to you — up to Lesser of: 25% of disposable earnings for the workweek, OR the amount disposable earnings exceed 30x federal minimum wage, OR the amount of the creditor's claim (K.S.A. 60-2310). Standard federal CCPA limits..
Standard 25% disposable-earnings cap. Kansas wage garnishment is continuous-style via successive orders. Not restricted/barred for consumer creditors.
Filed with: District court that entered the judgment; the earnings (wage) garnishment order is served on the employer (garnishee).
Levy the bank account
Form Kansas Judicial Council: Order of Garnishment (nonearnings), Answer of Garnishee (nonearnings), Order to Pay Money, Release of GarnishmentFreezes and pulls non-exempt funds straight from the debtor's bank account.
File a nonearnings garnishment with the district court directing the bank (garnishee) to answer and hold the debtor's funds; court issues an Order to Pay Money to release funds to the creditor. Forms from the Kansas Judicial Council.
Lien their real estate
Attaches to property the debtor owns for 5 years — you get paid when they sell or refinance. The cheap, passive backstop.
A Kansas judgment is AUTOMATICALLY a lien on the debtor's real estate in the county where it is rendered (K.S.A. 60-2202). For land in other counties, file an attested copy of the journal entry with the district court clerk in that county; the lien attaches from the date of filing.
The fine print that matters in Kansas
How long your judgment lasts
A Kansas judgment becomes DORMANT if no execution/garnishment is issued or renewal affidavit filed within 5 years of entry (K.S.A. 60-2403). A dormant judgment can be REVIVED by motion within 2 years after it goes dormant (K.S.A. 60-2404); filing a renewal affidavit or issuing execution resets the 5-year clock, so a judgment can be kept alive effectively indefinitely.
Interest while you wait
K.S.A. 16-204; current rate published by KS Secretary of State, e.g. https://www.kssos.org/publications/Register/Volume-44/Issues/Issue-27/07-03-25-53277.html
What the debtor can protect (exemptions)
Wage garnishment limited to federal 25%/30x cap (K.S.A. 60-2310). Kansas has a generous homestead exemption (unlimited acreage limits: 1 acre urban / 160 acres rural, K.S.A. 60-2301) and personal-property exemptions in K.S.A. 60-2304. A judgment lien follows the judgment's dormancy clock (5 years).
Kansas gotchas
The 5-year DORMANCY rule is the key trap: if a creditor lets 5 years pass with no execution/garnishment/renewal, the judgment goes dormant and the lien drops off real estate. Revival is possible only within 2 years after dormancy (K.S.A. 60-2404). Post-judgment interest rate is reset annually by the Secretary of State, not fixed for the life of the judgment unless contract-based.
Let us prepare your Kansas collection paperwork
We prepare your Kansas-specific enforcement forms — debtor's exam, garnishment, levy, or lien — plus a plain-English playbook telling you exactly where to file and what each step costs. You file them; we never charge a cut of what you collect.
Collection firms take 33–50% of what they recover. On a $4,000 judgment that's $1,300–$2,000. Our flat fee keeps the rest in your pocket.
Kansas Judgment Collection FAQ
A Kansas judgment is enforceable for 5 years, and can be renewed before it expires. A Kansas judgment becomes DORMANT if no execution/garnishment is issued or renewal affidavit filed within 5 years of entry (K.S.A. 60-2403). A dormant judgment can be REVIVED by motion within 2 years after it goes dormant (K.S.A. 60-2404); filing a renewal affidavit or issuing execution resets the 5-year clock, so a judgment can be kept alive effectively indefinitely.
Yes. Garnishment in Kansas can reach Lesser of: 25% of disposable earnings for the workweek, OR the amount disposable earnings exceed 30x federal minimum wage, OR the amount of the creditor's claim (K.S.A. 60-2310). Standard federal CCPA limits.. Exemptions: K.S.A. 60-2310 caps wage garnishment at the 25%/30x federal limits. Restrictions do NOT apply to court support/alimony orders or Chapter 13 bankruptcy orders.
Through Hearing in Aid of Execution (proceedings in aid of execution) — the court orders the debtor to appear and disclose their assets under oath. Use the Kansas Judicial Council 'Execution and Hearings in Aid' forms to order the debtor to appear and answer questions about assets. If the debtor requests a hearing to contest, the court holds it within 10 days of the request. Forms at the Kansas Judicial Council (chapter 60 / chapter 61 civil actions).
A Kansas judgment is AUTOMATICALLY a lien on the debtor's real estate in the county where it is rendered (K.S.A. 60-2202). For land in other counties, file an attested copy of the journal entry with the district court clerk in that county; the lien attaches from the date of filing. The lien lasts 5 years.
You pay the court and sheriff their own filing/levy fees directly (usually modest, and recoverable from the debtor). Our Judgment Collection service is a flat $299 — we prepare your Kansas-specific enforcement forms and a step-by-step filing playbook; you file them. Compared with collection firms that take 33–50% of what they recover, that's hundreds to thousands less on a typical judgment.
Some debtors are "judgment-proof" — no job, no bank account, no equity — and no tool can squeeze money that isn't there. The honest play is the debtor's exam to confirm what exists, then keep the judgment alive (it lasts 5 years and is renewable) and try again when their situation changes. We give you the tools, not a guaranteed payout.
Collecting a judgment by county in Kansas
Where you file your garnishment or levy depends on the counties.
Johnson County
Sedgwick County
Shawnee County
Wyandotte County
Douglas County
Leavenworth County
Riley County
Butler County
Reno County
Saline County
Crawford County
Finney County
All 105 counties in Kansas
Official Kansas sources
- https://self-help.kscourts.gov/Home/EnforcingJudgment
- https://ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch60/060_024_0003.html
- https://ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch60/060_024_0004.html
- https://www.ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch16/016_002_0004.html
- https://ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch60/060_023_0010.html
- https://www.ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch60/060_022_0002.html
- https://ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch60/060_024_0018.html
- https://www.kssos.org/publications/Register/Volume-44/Issues/Issue-27/07-03-25-53277.html
- https://www.kansasjudicialcouncil.org/legal-forms/civil-actions/chapter-61/garnishment-and-attachment/order-garnishment-earnings
- https://www.kjc.ks.gov/legal-forms/chapter-61-civil-actions/execution-and-hearings-in-aid
This page is general information about collecting a money judgment in Kansas, not legal advice. Forms, fees, and procedures change and vary by court — confirm the current requirements with the court that entered your judgment before filing.
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