WRIT OF FIERI FACIAS & PROPERTY LEVY

We do not have any authority to enforce a judgment. Your judgment must be converted to a Fi-Fa by the Clerk of the Court, where you obtained your judgment.

A Writ of Fieri Facias (Fi-Fa) is a court order commanding the Sheriff to collect a judgment by either getting the money or levy and sell sufficient property of the person(s) named in the Fi-Fa to satisfy your judgment. To “levy” means to seize or attach property by judicial order and then convert the seized property into money through a Sheriff’ Sale to satisfy the judgment.

Most property seized (levied upon) is personal property, but under certain circumstances, we can also seize real property. Read more about the Real Property Levy below.

In general, we will make a 10-day money demand on the defendant by personal contact with the person(s) named in the Fi-Fa or by leaving a letter at the person’s home if we are unable to make personal contact. This is an optional process since it is not required by law, but in some cases, can be useful. If the defendant says that they cannot or will not pay, then we will return the Fi-Fa to you with the results of our money demand.

It is then up to you to provide us with any known assets of the defendant that are unencumbered (no security interest, no UCC filing, no secured debt, no liens, etc.) You can take your original Fi-Fa to the Georgia Department of Revenue, Motor Vehicle Division in Hapeville, GA, to determine if the defendant has any motor vehicles that are either in his/her name or the name of the cooperation (if applicable).

Once you have determined any assets, you must:

• Give us a letter requesting that we do a levy, describing these assets and the address where you would like us to do the levy
• Either give us a printout from the Motor Vehicle Division showing vehicles owned by the defendant, or a letter certifying that a UCC search has been done and that there are no liens on the assets you are asking us to levy.

Before levying, the plaintiff must pay specific fees in advance. They are generally, but not limited to:

• Legal Advertising in the Forsyth County News for four weeks
• Wrecker and wrecker lot storage fees if a vehicle is to be seized
• Storage fees at a place deemed safe and secure by the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, located in Forsyth County, if appropriate.
• Labor and transportation cost for the physical seizure and movement of any property levied upon, if applicable.

All of this will be discussed with you by a supervisor before levying.

Once the Levy has completed, the items are placed in a secure area within Forsyth County, selected by the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office and paid by you. Or in a wrecker lot in the case of vehicles.

The seized property is then advertised for four consecutive weeks in the Forsyth County News (legal organ of Forsyth County) and subsequently sold on the first Tuesday of the month.

While we provide some assistance to you, we are unable to do a skip tracing or to identify specific property to levy, so you must do these two tasks. We do make a money demand. Please refer to O.C.G.A. § 9-13-50 and O.C.G.A. § 9-13-16.

Writ of Fieri Facias will expire after seven years from the date of filing with the Clerk’s Office. The process by which you can renew you Fi-Fa is by requesting a Nulla Bona from the Sheriff’s Office. That is a determination by the Forsyth County Sheriff Office that there is no property which can be found to levy upon and once filed with the Clerk’s Office, can renew the Fi-Fa for another seven years.

The fee for requesting a Nulla Bona is $20. The Forsyth County Sheriffs Office will NOT forward the Fi0Fa to the Clerk’s Office for filing.

If you are requesting a Nulla Bona, please send us the Fi-Fa no later than thirty days before the expiration date. The Sheriff’s Office cannot enter a finding of Nulla Bona on a dormant Fi-Fa.

Civil Division Requirements for a Real Property Levy

• A request, in writing, to the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office Civil Unity to levy upon and sell real property to satisfy a Fieri Facias (Fi-Fa). The request must include a statement that there is either no personal property to be levied upon to satisfy the judgment or that there is insufficient personal property found to be levied upon to satisfy the judgment.

• We must have the original Fi-Fa. We cannot accept copies of a Fi-Fa. The Fi-fa must have been recorded in the county where the judgment originated. If the judgment originated outside of Forsyth County, the judgment must also be recorded in Forsyth County. If the original Fi-Fa has been lost, we can accept a property marked “Alias” issued by the original issuer (Clerk of Court) with the same judgment date as the original Fi-Fa and endorsed as an “alias.”

• A complete, full legal description of the real property that you want us to levy upon and sell. This description must include the “metes and bounds” in the legal description.

• A Certificate of Title, certified by an attorney, authorized to practice law in the State of Georgia. The Certificate of Title must be less than 30 days old, and the name of the current owner of the property must be shown. Also, it must include a list of all lien holders with their name(s), address(es), and the date of the lien(s) was recorded.

• A certified copy of the warranty deed for the subject property must be presented.

• Please note that any mortgage (security deed )must be extinguished (paid off) before our levying. You will need to provide us the dollar amount that was paid, and we will need proof that this has been done.

• A check for $50 made out to the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office for statutory levy fee must be presented.

• The cost and running of the newspaper ad will be the responsibility of the plaintiff on the Fi-Fa.

Sheriffs Sales are held on the first Tuesday of each month unless that day falls on a holiday, in which case it is held the following day. We are required to publish the sale notice four consecutive weeks prior to the first Tuesday of the month, on the designated legal organ of the county, which is the Forsyth County news. To place the ad promptly, the designated Civil unity person will coordinate with the plaintiff or the plaintiff’s attorney as to the cut off time and date.

Please note that we reserve the right to add, change, or delete from this list.