Here in FL, just because the judge may find in the landlord's favor and order the tenant to pay the landlord, having a court order for them to pay and actually collecting what is owed is two totally different beasts. But there's a part of the law here in FL that is not well advertised that I use to my advantage. It's not well advertised, because judges hate it. But when it's bought up, they can't deny it. It's called an "Asset Statement of Fact".
When the landlord informs the judge they would like an Asset Statement of Fact from the tenant, The tenant usually has no idea what that is, and the judge has to explain it to them.
An Asset Statement of Fact is where the tenant has to provide the court and the landlord a list of "everything" "they" "own" along with an appraised FMV of everything from a qualified appraiser. Typically, they have 30 days to provide it to the court and the landlord.
What that does, if the tenant does not pay, the landlord can place a lien on what the tenant owns up to the value of what the court has ordered them to pay. Six months later if not paid, the landlord can then take action for a court ordered auction to sell off the tenant's assets until enough funds have been collected to pay the court ordered debt. If it were to actually come to that, the court can (and usually will) add the cost of the auction and other stuff, to the tenant's liability. So it can, and usually will, get costly for the tenant fast.
Now on my first eviction where the tenant was ordered to pay my legal fees plus the rent I was owed, I did this. After the judge explained it all to the tenant, that's when I said "tell you what.... if you've got your checkbook and you write a check and pay me "right now", I'll drop my motion for the Asset Statement of Facts."
The tenant asked the judge if they could run to their car and get their checkbook, which the judge allowed. They wrote me the check then and there. Afterwards, the judge explained to them that if the check bounced, they'd have bigger problems because knowingly writing a bad check in my state is a criminal offense that doesn't come to him as a county judge; it goes straight to the state attorney's office.
Needless to say, I actually did collect my money and the check did not bounce.
Now, the only reason I knew about that "Asset Statement of Facts" at the time, is because I actually read the book I referenced in an earlier post. Without having read that book, I most likely would have never collected what I was due.
