Delaware Judgment Collection Fees and Costs: What Enforcement Actually Costs

Winning a judgment in Delaware's Justice of the Peace Court costs you a filing fee — $35 for claims under $1,000 or $45 for claims from $1,000 through $25,000. What catches most creditors off guard is that collecting the judgment carries its own separate set of fees, and the court requires payment upfront before it will issue any enforcement paperwork.

Here is every fee you are likely to encounter, what it buys you, and how to avoid wasting money on the wrong tool.

Enforcement Fee Schedule

Wage garnishment (Civil Form No. 17): $20. This covers issuance of the garnishment writ, which the court sends to a constable for service on the debtor's employer. The employer must answer within 20 calendar days using Form 17A. If the employer cannot be served at the address you provided, the writ comes back unserved and you pay another $20 for an alias service request with a corrected address.

Personal property levy (Civil Form No. 16): $20. The constable goes to the debtor's address to locate, inventory, and appraise seizeable personal property. Delaware exempts specific property, including wearing apparel and trade tools up to $75, and allows a head-of-family exemption of $500 in selected personal property. If the debtor refuses entry or the constable finds no reachable non-exempt property, the levy may produce no property for sale and you are out the fee.

Constable sale (venditioni exponas): $20. After a successful levy, this fee triggers a public sale of the seized property. The constable advertises the sale and auctions the goods. Proceeds go toward your judgment balance.

Alias service request: $20. Filed when any writ — garnishment or levy — comes back unserved because the address was wrong or the debtor moved. You supply a new address and the court reissues the writ.

Post-judgment motion (new trial, vacate default, reopen): $15. A Rule 59 motion for new trial is due within 10 calendar days starting the day after judgment entry; a motion to vacate a default judgment in a debt, trespass, or replevin action is normally due within 15 calendar days, or within 30 calendar days if service by certified mail was returned unclaimed.

Abstract of judgment from JP Court: $10. The JP Court clerk prepares a certified abstract of your judgment, which you need for the Superior Court transcript transfer.

Superior Court transcript transfer: $50. Filed with the Prothonotary in the county where the debtor owns real estate. This creates a judgment lien under 10 Del. C. § 9569 that lasts 10 years under 10 Del. C. § 4711 and blocks the debtor from selling or refinancing without satisfying the debt.

Superior Court satisfaction recording: $25. After the judgment is paid, you file satisfaction with the Prothonotary to release the real estate lien (in addition to the satisfaction you file at the JP Court).

How Costs Add Up in a Typical Case

A straightforward wage garnishment costs $20. If it works on the first attempt, that is your total enforcement cost.

A more complicated collection — where the first garnishment comes back unserved, you try a property levy, that also fails, and you transfer the judgment to Superior Court for a real estate lien — could run: $20 (garnishment) + $20 (alias) + $20 (levy) + $10 (abstract) + $50 (transfer) = $120 in enforcement fees before the debtor pays anything.

That math matters more on small judgments. On a $500 judgment, $120 in enforcement costs eats nearly a quarter of your recovery. On a $5,000 judgment, those same fees are noise.

Can You Recover Enforcement Costs?

The judgment award itself typically includes the original court filing fee as part of "awarded court costs." Enforcement fees you pay after judgment — execution writs, alias service, transcript transfers — are added to the running balance the debtor owes. When partial payments come in, Delaware's payment allocation rules apply costs first, then accrued post-judgment interest, then principal.

Keep receipts for every fee paid. Your judgment balance ledger should track each enforcement cost alongside interest accruals and payment credits. If you end up in a debtor examination or a satisfaction dispute, those records establish exactly what the debtor still owes.

Avoiding Wasted Fees

The most common waste is filing a property levy when you have no evidence the debtor owns anything worth seizing. Before spending $20 on a Form 16, run a debtor examination to find out what assets exist. Similarly, verify the debtor's current employer before filing a garnishment — serving a writ on a former employer is $20 down the drain.

The Delaware Judgment Collection Guide includes the full fee schedule, a balance ledger for tracking costs and interest, and a decision flowchart to help you pick the right enforcement tool before spending money on the wrong one.

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