A “foreign judgment” refers to a money judgment obtained in any state or federal court outside of Florida. A foreign judgment must be domesticated through a Florida court proceeding before it can be executed in Florida. Our judgment domestication practice begins with the filing of a legal action for domestication of your out-of-state judgment in a state or federal court situated in a Florida county where the judgment debtor owns real property, personal property, or conducts business. A successful outcome will create a lien that can be enforced or foreclosed upon through the Florida court system. If the foreign judgment debtor does not respond to the initial domestication process, the clerk of court will enter the judgment into the public record. However, if the foreign-judgment debtor objects to an action for domestication, or challenges the judgment’s validity, the domestication action is no longer primarily procedural, but becomes an adversarial proceeding and subject to full adjudication in a Florida court, or competent Jurisdiction.