Judgment Enforcement

Maldonado Law Group has highly specialized experience in enforcing foreign judgments, especially those originating from the United States, as well as arbitral awards in Mexico.  Our law firm is frequently retained to assist in the recognition and enforcement of US judgments, often from California, in Baja California and throughout Mexico.

Although there is no international treaty to recognize and enforce foreign judgments between the United States and Mexico it is possible for Mexico Courts to recognize and enforce most judgments issued by courts in the US under the provisions of Mexico's Federal Civil Code of Procedures and the codes of civil procedures of the thirty-one states in Mexico and its Federal District. 

The process starts with the foreign (US) court issuing letters rogatory requesting the applicable courts in Mexico to recognize and enforce a final money judgment.  The letters rogatory must provide that the judgment cannot be appealed and that the defendant/judgment-debtor was personally served with the summons and complaint.  After certain certifications and translation have been made to the letters rogatory it is then filed with a court in Mexico in an homologación (exequatur), or domestication proceeding.  Once the Mexican court has recognized the validity of the foreign judgment it can be then be enforced using all of the enforcement methods available to judgments obtained in Mexican courts such as liens, judicial sales, levies and till taps.