Judgements
Tracking and calculating the balance due on a judgment under Michigan law can be a time-consuming, and tedious, process. You can use our Collection Spreadsheet form (collection spr.qpw) to simplify the process, and track payments, interest, and taxable court costs as the process moves forward.
For Michigan statutory judgment interest, you must be careful not to compound interest. Michigan statutory interest is simple interest, and is only capitalized (along with accrued taxable costs) once per year, on the anniversary date of the Judgment.
To Use the Spreadsheet:
1. Enter the date of your Judgment, in box A5 (MM/DD/YY or MM-DD-YY or Month DD, YYYY). Then, enter Judgment in the description box, and the amount of your Judgment in the top right empty box, H5, under Principal Amount. The amount of the judgment will be carried down through that column.
2. On the next row of boxes, in box A6, enter the date of your next transaction.
3. Enter the amount in one of the three appropriate columns: under Payments if it is a payment received (voluntarily or involuntarily, such as by garnishment), under Costs if it is a taxable cost (filing fee for writs of garnishment or execution, garnishee fees, etc.) or under Other Transactions (such as an amendment to the judgment to add additional attorney fees incurred, etc.). Leave the other two boxes empty.
4. Enter the applicable statutory interest rate as a decimal number (i.e. 4% is .04). The spreadsheet will then automatically calculate interest and enter it under the Interest Amount column with any transaction you enter. The spreadsheet will also calculate the new (if it is changed) principal balance.
5. Continue entering transactions as they occur, and the spreadsheet will keep track of the balance due. The balance due, as of the date of the last entered transaction, will appear in the lower right box, immediately left of Balance Due.
Please Note:
A. The spreadsheet will not calculate interest (and therefore, will not accurately calculate the balance due) unless you enter the applicable interest rate.
B. You should make entries for December 31 and June 30 of each year, entitled Interest to calculate interest to the end of that six-month period; a new interest rate applies on the following day. (These entries do not have to be made on those days, just with those dates.)
C. You should also make an entry for interest on the anniversary date of the judgment, get a new total balance due, including interest and costs (calculated by the spreadsheet) and use that balance to start a new spreadsheet for the next year of the judgment.
