Mechanism 49

Post-judgment discovery

By John P. Henry · Tex. R. Civ. P. 621a · Reviewed 2026-08-02

The authority

At any time after rendition of judgment, and so long as said judgment has not been suspended by a supersedeas bond or by order of a proper court and has not become dormant as provided by Section 34.001, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, the successful party may, for the purpose of obtaining information to aid in the enforcement of such judgment, initiate and maintain in the trial court in the same suit in which said judgment was rendered any discovery proceeding authorized by these rules for pre-trial matters.Tex. R. Civ. P. 621a

Tex. R. Civ. P. 621a

When it applies

Every judgment you intend to collect, and it should be the first thing served rather than the last. A writ issued against an address nobody checked comes back nulla bona; discovery first tells you where to send it.

How it is proved up

1. Serve it early. The information decides which remedy is worth the filing fee — garnishment, execution, turnover, or a charging order — and each of those is a wasted motion without it.
2. Ask about entities, not just accounts. Membership interests, receivables, affiliated companies with the same principal, and transfers made after suit was filed are the questions that produce recoveries.
3. Rights inure to successors and assignees, so a purchaser of the judgment takes the discovery rights with it.
4. When the responses do not come, move to compel and ask for the objections to be held waived under Tex. R. Civ. P. 193.2(e) rather than arguing each one. Fees are available under Rule 215.1(d).
5. Calendar the dormancy date the day the judgment is signed. Rule 621a is cut off by dormancy, and a judgment that goes dormant takes the discovery rights with it.

What defeats it

• A supersedeas bond, which suspends enforcement and with it the discovery.
• Dormancy under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 34.001 — ten years without a writ, revivable for two more by scire facias and then not at all.
• A court that will not set the motion to compel. It happens, and the answer is not to keep re-noticing it — the refusal itself can become the affidavit predicate for a garnishment, which is a remedy the clerk issues rather than the judge.
• A debtor who answers honestly and owns nothing. That answer is worth having early rather than late.

Where I have used it

Murphy v. Liberty Hill Construction, LLC and McGrath · Cause No. 25-0131-C26, 26th Judicial District Court, Williamson County. Counsel for the judgment creditors. Post-judgment interrogatories and requests for production served under Rule 621a on 13 March 2026, a week after the final judgment. Nothing came back — no responses, no objections, no privilege log, no request for an extension. On 27 May 2026 the court signed two orders: one compelling full sworn responses within seven days and holding all objections waived, including privilege, with expenses under Rule 215.1(d); the other granting turnover and appointing a receiver on findings that the judgment debtors were dissipating their estate — selling personal property online and signing two intra-family warranty deeds the day after the judgment was signed.