North Dakota Judgment Interest Rate: 2026 Rate, Formula, and How to Calculate It

Every unpaid North Dakota judgment accrues interest automatically. For judgments entered in 2026, the statutory rate is 10.00% per annum — and that rate stays locked in for the life of the judgment, even if future years have different rates. Here's how the rate is set, how to calculate what you're owed, and the mandatory order for applying partial payments.

How the Rate Is Set Each Year

Under N.D.C.C. § 28-20-34, the State Court Administrator publishes the post-judgment interest rate before December 20th of each year, effective January 1st of the following year. The formula:

Wall Street Journal prime rate reported on the first Monday in December + 3 percentage points, rounded up to the next one-half percentage point

For 2026, the prime rate on December 1, 2025 was 7.00%, giving a statutory rate of 10.00%.

The rate that applies to your judgment is the rate in effect during the calendar year the judgment was entered — and it stays fixed for the entire life of that judgment. A judgment entered in 2025 at 11.00% continues accruing at 11.00% even if the 2026 rate is different.

Recent rates for reference:

Calculating Daily Interest

North Dakota uses simple interest — no compounding. The daily calculation:

Principal Balance × Annual Rate ÷ 365 = Daily Interest

For a $5,000 judgment at 10%:

$5,000 × 0.10 ÷ 365 = $1.37 per day

Over 6 months (182 days), that's $249.32 in accrued interest on top of the original judgment.

For a $15,000 judgment (the North Dakota small claims maximum):

$15,000 × 0.10 ÷ 365 = $4.11 per day — or about $1,500 per year.

Interest begins accruing from the date the judgment is entered, not from the date the debtor was served or the date you start enforcement.

How Partial Payments Are Applied

When the debtor makes a partial payment, N.D.C.C. § 28-20-36 dictates a strict allocation order:

1. First: Taxable post-judgment court costs (filing fees, service costs, sheriff fees you've incurred)
2. Second: Accrued post-judgment interest
3. Third: The unpaid principal judgment balance

This matters because interest keeps accruing on the principal until the principal is actually reduced. A $2,000 payment on a $10,000 judgment might cover $200 in costs, $500 in accrued interest, and only reduce the principal to $8,700 — with interest now accruing on $8,700 going forward.

Here's a worked example:

After the payment, interest continues accruing at 10% on $8,697.89 — about $2.38 per day.

Tracking Interest Across Multiple Years

For long-running judgment collections, the calculation stays the same because the rate is fixed at the year of entry. You don't need to look up a new rate each January. A 2026 judgment at 10% accrues at 10% in 2027, 2028, and every year until it's satisfied or expires.

The challenge is bookkeeping: tracking the current principal after partial payments, the correct daily rate, and the running total of accrued interest. Every payment resets the interest accrual base.

Interest on Costs

Post-judgment interest accrues on the principal judgment amount. Enforcement costs (sheriff fees, garnishment fees, transcript fees) are recovered separately as taxable costs and get paid first from any partial payment — but they don't accrue interest themselves under the statutory formula.

Can the Debtor Negotiate the Interest Away?

The statutory interest rate isn't negotiable — it accrues by law whether or not you've started enforcement. But nothing prevents you from agreeing to a reduced payoff amount as part of a settlement. If the debtor offers to pay the full principal but not the accrued interest, that's a business decision, not a legal question.

If you do accept a reduced amount, make sure the settlement agreement clearly states it's in full satisfaction of the judgment, and file a Satisfaction of Judgment with the court promptly.

For a pre-built interest calculation worksheet that handles multi-year accrual and partial payment allocation automatically, see our North Dakota judgment collection guide.

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