Rule 39.5.General Execution Docket

Once a court enters a money judgment, the winning party can have the clerk issue a writ of fieri facias, commonly called a Fi. Fa., authorizing a sheriff to seize the debtor’s property to satisfy the debt. Rule 39.5 requires the clerk to log every one of these writs on a General Execution Docket, which functions as the county’s public record of outstanding judgment liens.

Each entry must show who the parties and attorneys are, which court entered the judgment, when the judgment and the Fi. Fa. were issued, the case number, and a full accounting of what’s owed — principal, costs, attorney fees, interest, and penalties. That detail lets title searchers, creditors, and debtors alike see exactly what a judgment lien covers.

The docket also has to stay current as a Fi. Fa.’s status changes. If a sheriff cannot find property to seize, that “nulla bona” return gets noted on the original entry. If a Fi. Fa. is renewed or reissued, it gets its own new entry — the docket does not overwrite the old entry, since reissuance creates a new one instead — but the clerk cross-references the new entry back to the original or to the last renewal that is less than seven years old, preserving an unbroken chain that shows the lien is still alive.