How to Collect Your Judgment in New Hampshire

A New Hampshire judgment is enforceable for 20 years, and can be renewed before it expires. An action of debt upon a NH judgment may be brought within 20 years after the cause of action accrued (RSA 508:5). A new suit on the judgment within that window effectively renews enforceability; a real-estate judgment lien remains in force as long as a suit may be maintained on the judgment (RSA 524:13).

New Hampshire bars or heavily restricts wage garnishment for ordinary consumer debts. RESTRICTED: New Hampshire has no continuous wage garnishment for ordinary money judgments. ALTERNATIVE: creditors use a court-ordered installment plan via Motion for Periodic Payments (RSA 524:6-a / NHJB-2364-DPe), enforced by contempt. The RSA 512 trustee-process wage attachment exists but is non-continuous, costly, exemption-heavy, and rarely used.

Through Periodic Payments hearing / financial disclosure (functions as the debtor exam) (Motion for Periodic Payments (NHJB-2364-DPe)) — the court orders the debtor to appear and disclose their assets under oath. Creditor files a Motion for Periodic Payments (RSA 524:6-a; Circuit Court Rule 1.21 / Superior Court Rule 51). The debtor must appear and make a sworn financial disclosure of income, expenses, assets, and liabilities and may be examined under oath; the court then orders a payment schedule. Failure to pay supports a Motion for Contempt for Non-Compliance with a Payment Order (no fee).

Record a certified copy of the judgment plus an affidavit with the Registry of Deeds in the county where the debtor's real estate is located; this creates a lien on all of the debtor's real estate in that county (RSA 524:13). The lien lasts 20 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 New Hampshire-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 20 years and is renewable) and try again when their situation changes. We give you the tools, not a guaranteed payout.