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Miami Debt Collection Attorneys

Collecting a debt or judgment, city by city.

Quick summary: Miami debts often cross borders: trade, shipping, and foreign buyers and sellers are everyday business here. Every level of civil case in Miami-Dade is heard in one downtown building, and we know how to use it.

Hand-tinted postcard-style illustration of the Miami River, Miami, Florida, in the style of about 1910
Miami, Florida, as a picture postcard of about 1910 might have shown it. (Illustration.)

Miami’s economy runs on a few large industries and the many businesses that serve them. PortMiami and Miami International Airport support a dense network of freight forwarders, customs brokers, and wholesale distributors. Brickell is the center of banking and finance. Tourism and hospitality never stop, and real estate and construction stay busy across homes, offices, and mixed-use projects. Healthcare, professional services, aviation, and creative industries add to the mix.

Assets here sit in clear places: office towers in Brickell and Downtown, warehouses in Doral, Medley, and Hialeah, shops and restaurants in Wynwood, the Design District, Coconut Grove, and Coral Gables, and farms in the Redland and around Homestead. Miami cases are heard in Miami-Dade County, in Florida’s Eleventh Judicial Circuit.

For creditors and referring attorneys

Creditors with Miami files are often trade creditors, freight and logistics vendors, lenders, and landlords. Many deal with debtors whose owners, customers, or money are partly outside the United States. We’ll tell you early what can be reached in Florida and what can’t.

Referring attorneys bring us judgments from other states that need to be domesticated in Florida. Judgments from other countries follow a separate Florida recognition process, and we handle that as well.

Collecting a debt or judgment in Miami

Knowing where a Miami debtor’s assets are is the first step in knowing whether a judgment will collect. A distributor’s value is in its warehouse inventory and receivables. A restaurant group’s is in its accounts and leases. A developer’s is in real estate, often in a separate company. What we use:

  • Warehouse inventory in Doral, Medley, and Hialeah: levy through the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office
  • Money owed by the debtor’s own buyers: garnishment of those trade receivables
  • Condos, offices, and commercial property: a judgment lien recorded in Miami-Dade County
  • Property held through layered companies: proceedings supplementary and charging orders

See our judgment enforcement page for more on each tool.

The venue: Osvaldo N. Soto Miami-Dade Justice Center

Circuit civil, the complex business litigation division, and county civil all sit at the Soto Justice Center on NW 1st Avenue downtown. The Eleventh Circuit’s Complex Business Litigation Division, Circuit Civil sections 43 and 44, has dedicated judges for complicated business disputes. Appeals go to the Third District Court of Appeal.

Frequently asked questions

The debtor’s owners live outside the U.S. Can we still collect in Miami?

What’s in Florida can be reached here: bank accounts, inventory, real estate, and receivables from Florida customers. Assets overseas are a different project. We’ll tell you how much is within reach before you start.

We have a judgment from another country. Can it be enforced in Miami?

Often, yes, but it first has to be recognized under Florida’s process for foreign-country judgments. Once it’s recognized, it’s enforced like a Florida judgment.

Bottom line: If a Miami business owes you money, contact us or call (813) 229-0900. We’ll tell you what’s within reach in Florida before you spend on it.

Nearby: Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton.

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