What is a Confession of Judgment (and how can it help me get paid)?
A Confession of Judgment, sometimes called a Stipulated Judgment, is used very specifically in the circumstance when your customer acknowledges he owes you a certain amount of money, but claims that he is financially incapable of paying the full amount of the debt right now. A Confession of Judgment is a document your customer signs – and you really want the principal of the company to agree to joint liability along with the company itself – which confirms the amount due and either agrees to pay that amount in full by a certain time (i.e., when your customer expects payment from a job) or agrees to a payment plan. The payment plan option is the most commonly used type of judgment agreement and the schedule of expected payments is set forth in the Confession of Judgment. If your customer signs the Confession of Judgment and fails to make the promised payments, you can file the Confession of Judgment directly with the court and you immediately have a Judgment ready to be collected upon (
