How to Collect a Judgment from an LLC in West Virginia: An Investigator's Checklist

Suing a limited liability company and winning feels like the end of the fight. Then the LLC stops answering the phone, the owner says "the company has no money," and you realize the hardest part hasn't started yet. If you're trying to figure out how to collect a judgment from an LLC in West Virginia, this guide gives you the short answer first, then the investigator's checklist I'd use to find where an LLC's money actually sits.

The Short Answer

• Your judgment is against the company, not its owners. In West Virginia, an LLC's debts belong to the LLC alone (W. Va. Code § 31B-3-303(a)). You collect from the company's assets unless a specific exception applies.
• An LLC has no paycheck to garnish. The money is in its bank accounts, its receivables (what its customers owe it), its equipment and vehicles, and any real estate in its name.
• West Virginia gives you tools that fit a business debtor: a writ of execution, a sworn examination of a company officer (§ 38-5-1), a "suggestion" against banks and customers holding the LLC's money (§ 38-5-10), and a judgment lien on the LLC's real estate (§ 38-3-6).
• Reaching the owners personally got harder in 2022. Veil piercing now generally requires the LLC to be both undercapitalized and without at least $100,000 in liability insurance, though a separate "clawback" remedy targets owners who drained the company.
• If you'd rather not run that process yourself, you can sell the judgment and let the buyer handle enforcement.

Why Collecting From an LLC Is a Different Job

When the debtor is a person, the playbook is familiar: find the employer, find the bank, find the house. When the debtor is a West Virginia LLC, most of those targets disappear. The company doesn't earn wages. It may not own a building. Its owner may have a nice home and a new truck, but those are usually the owner's assets, not the company's, and your judgment doesn't reach them just because the owner runs the business.

West Virginia law is clear on this point. Under W. Va. Code § 31B-3-303(a), the debts and obligations of an LLC are solely the company's. Subsection (b) adds that failing to follow the usual company formalities, such as skipping meetings or keeping sloppy minutes, is not, by itself, a reason to hold members personally liable.

So the first mindset shift is this: you're not chasing a person. You're chasing a business's cash flow. That changes where you look and which court tools you use.

How to Collect a Judgment From an LLC in West Virginia: The Investigator's Checklist

In 31 years of investigative work, I learned that businesses leave a much bigger paper trail than people do. A company has to get paid, pay vendors, register vehicles, file with the state and usually hold licenses. Each of those creates a record. Here's the order I work through when the debtor is an LLC.

1. Confirm the LLC's legal name and status with the Secretary of State

Start with the West Virginia Secretary of State's business records. Confirm that the name on your judgment exactly matches the registered entity, and note the organizer, members or managers listed, the registered agent, the principal office address and the filing history. Watch for an administrative dissolution or a newly formed company with a similar name. Both tell you something about where the business is headed.

2. Map the LLC's customers

For most operating businesses, the most valuable asset isn't in a vault. It's the money customers owe the company. Invoices you received during the original deal, the LLC's website, its social media, job-site signs, public contract awards and permit records can all point to who pays this business. Each of those customers is a potential target for a suggestion, which is covered below.

3. Identify the bank

Look at the back of any check the LLC ever wrote you, wire details from past payments, and the bank named on old invoices. A business account is often the single best target, because a suggestion served on the right bank at the right time can catch whatever is in the account.

4. List the equipment and vehicles titled to the company

Contractors, haulers and service companies often own trucks, trailers and heavy equipment. Check whether those assets are titled to the LLC, to the owner personally, or to a lender. Assets financed with a lender may carry a lien ahead of yours, so a public UCC search with the Secretary of State is worth running before you spend money on a levy.

5. Search the county real estate records

Some LLCs own their shop, office or yard. Search the land records in the county where the business operates and in the counties where it has projects. If the LLC owns West Virginia real estate, your judgment is a lien on it.

Hypothetical: A supplier holds a judgment against an excavation LLC. The company's bank account is nearly empty most days, but a check of county permit records shows the LLC is working on several commercial sites, and invoices from the original deal name two of its regular customers. Those customers, not the bank, become the first enforcement targets.

Holding a judgment against a West Virginia LLC? Start a free evaluation of your West Virginia business judgment.

6. Check for licenses, contracts and public money

Licensed trades, public contractors and businesses that bid on government work leave records with licensing boards and public agencies. Those records can confirm the company is still operating and who it's doing business with.

7. Look for a "new" company doing the same work

One pattern I watch for: the judgment debtor goes quiet, and a company with a slightly different name starts operating from the same address, with the same phone number, trucks and crew. That doesn't automatically make the new company liable, but it's a reason to talk with your attorney about transfer and successor issues before evidence goes stale.

8. Track money moving to the owners

If the LLC paid its owners or a related company right after the dispute started, or just before or after your judgment, write it down. Those transfers may be challengeable under the clawback rules or West Virginia's Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act, both explained below, and some of those claims have tight deadlines.

The West Virginia Court Tools That Fit an LLC Debtor

Once you know where the money is, these are the main tools West Virginia gives a judgment holder. An attorney licensed in West Virginia can tell you which ones fit your case and how to file them.

Writ of execution

A writ of execution (also called a writ of fieri facias) directs the sheriff to levy on the debtor's non-exempt personal property. For an LLC, that can mean equipment, vehicles and inventory. Under W. Va. Code § 38-3-18, execution may issue within ten years of the judgment, and a new execution can issue within ten years of the return day of an earlier one that came back unsatisfied, which is how a judgment is kept enforceable.

A sworn examination of a company officer

Under W. Va. Code § 38-5-1, once a writ of execution has issued, the clerk can summon the debtor, an officer of a corporate debtor with an office in West Virginia, and any person who owes the debtor money or holds its property, to answer questions under oath before a commissioner. For an LLC, this is how you put the person who runs the books on the record about bank accounts, customers and transfers. Under § 38-5-4 and § 38-5-5, property uncovered in the examination can be ordered turned over to the officer holding the writ. Ask your attorney how this procedure applies to an LLC in your court.

A suggestion against banks and customers

This is often the most useful tool against a business. Under W. Va. Code § 38-5-10, a judgment creditor can "suggest" that a third party, such as a bank or one of the LLC's customers, owes the debtor money or holds its property. The clerk then issues a summons requiring that third party to answer in writing and under oath. If the answer confirms a debt, the court can order the third party to pay (§ 38-5-15), and that order has the effect of a judgment (§ 38-5-16). If the third party ignores the summons, the court can compel an answer or hear proof (§ 38-5-17).

A lien on the LLC's real estate

Under W. Va. Code § 38-3-6, a West Virginia money judgment is a lien on real estate the debtor owns or later acquires, for as long as the judgment remains enforceable. Docketing an abstract of the judgment in each county where the LLC owns or may buy property protects your position against later buyers. Your attorney can handle the recording details.

Can You Go After the LLC's Owners Personally?

This is the question almost every business owner asks, and the answer changed in 2022. In 2013, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia held in Kubican v. The Tavern, LLC that the veil of a West Virginia LLC can be pierced as an equitable remedy. In 2022, the Legislature rewrote W. Va. Code § 31B-3-303 to narrow that analysis for claims arising after the reenactment. Under the current statute:

• Veil piercing is limited. Under § 31B-3-303(d), it generally applies only if the LLC was not adequately capitalized for the reasonable risks of its business and did not carry liability insurance for its primary business risks with limits of at least $100,000 (or more if the law requires). Both conditions must be met.
• Some personal liability still exists. Under § 31B-3-303(c), a member can be liable if they signed a written personal guarantee, agreed in writing to a liability provision in the articles of organization, are made liable for certain taxes by law, or committed actual or constructive fraud that caused the injury.
• Clawback is a separate remedy. Under § 31B-3-303(g) and (h), a creditor with an unpaid judgment against the LLC may pursue a member who received company money through a "conflicted exchange" (a transfer for far less than it was worth), an "insolvency distribution" (a payout to an owner that left the company unable to pay its debts) or "siphoning of funds." Recovery is capped at the lesser of the unpaid judgment or the amount transferred in bad faith.

The practical takeaway: before you assume the owner is off the hook, dig out your original contract and credit application. A personal guarantee signed years ago can matter more than any veil-piercing argument. Which rules apply to your claim depends on when it arose, so this is a question for your attorney.

Red Flags That an LLC Is Moving Assets

West Virginia's Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act, W. Va. Code Chapter 40, Article 1A, lets creditors challenge certain transfers made to avoid paying them. Timing matters. Under § 40-1A-9, an actual-intent claim generally must be brought within four years of the transfer, or within one year after it was or reasonably could have been discovered, whichever is later. Some constructive-fraud claims have a four-year limit, and one category has only one year. Signs worth raising with your attorney quickly:

• Equipment or vehicles retitled to the owner, a relative or a new company
• A new LLC operating from the same address with the same crew
• Large payments to owners or insiders after the dispute began
• Customer payments suddenly routed to a different account or entity
• Administrative dissolution right after the judgment was entered

Is It Worth Enforcing, or Should You Sell?

Run through these questions honestly:

1. Do you know where the LLC banks and who its customers are today?
2. Do you have the time to manage executions, examinations and suggestions, and to repeat them when the first round comes back empty?
3. Are you ready to pay attorney time and court costs before you know whether anything will be recovered?
4. Will you track the ten-year execution window and keep the judgment alive?

If you answered "no" to two or more, selling deserves a serious look. When you sell your judgment for cash, you assign it to the buyer, receive payment, and the enforcement work becomes the buyer's problem. Our enforce vs. sell comparison lays out the tradeoffs, and The Hidden Cost of Uncollected Judgments explains what waiting really costs a business. You can also see how interest has added up with our judgment calculator.

What Great Lakes Strategic Capital Does

Great Lakes Strategic Capital is one of the judgment buyers that work with businesses. We purchase unsatisfied non-consumer (business and commercial) judgments for cash, including judgments against LLCs, and there are no upfront fees to have yours evaluated. Once GLSC owns the judgment, the enforcement work is ours, not yours. Our evaluations are backed by Wayne Bisard's 31+ years of investigative experience, which is exactly the skill set a hard-to-pin-down LLC debtor calls for.

Want more West Virginia detail? Read Companies That Buy Judgments in West Virginia for the questions to ask any buyer, and our step-by-step guide to collecting or selling a judgment in West Virginia. For how other states compare, see our state judgment laws page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I garnish an LLC's bank account in West Virginia?

West Virginia uses a procedure called a suggestion (W. Va. Code § 38-5-10) to reach money a third party, such as a bank, holds for the debtor. The bank must answer under oath, and the court can order it to pay what it holds for the LLC. Timing matters, because business accounts can rise and fall quickly.

Can I collect from the LLC owner's personal assets?

Usually not directly. An LLC's debts belong to the company. Exceptions include a written personal guarantee, the member's own fraud, and, in limited situations, veil piercing or a clawback of money the owner took out of the company. Your attorney can tell you which, if any, apply.

How do I collect a judgement from an LLC that closed or dissolved?

Dissolution doesn't erase a judgment. Look at what happened to the LLC's assets when it shut down: who got the equipment, the receivables and the remaining cash. Transfers to owners or to a new company may be challengeable, and deadlines apply, so act quickly.

How long do I have to collect a judgment against an LLC in West Virginia?

Under W. Va. Code § 38-3-18, execution may issue within ten years of the judgment, and each new execution returned unsatisfied starts another ten-year window. A judgment that is actively enforced can stay alive for a long time.

Can I sell a judgment against an LLC?

Yes. A money judgment against an LLC can generally be assigned to a buyer like any other judgment. GLSC reviews non-consumer judgments against businesses, including LLCs, at no upfront cost.

Let Someone Else Chase the LLC

You proved your case. If you'd rather not spend the next few years tracking an LLC's bank accounts and customers, selling may be the cleanest way to close the file.

Sell Your Judgment: Start a Free Evaluation of Your West Virginia LLC Judgment

About the author: Wayne Bisard is the owner of Great Lakes Strategic Capital, which purchases non-consumer civil judgments. He is a retired police captain and licensed Michigan private investigator with 31 years of investigative experience.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Consult an attorney licensed in your state about your situation.