You won your eviction. The tenant is gone. And you're still owed three months of back rent plus damage to the unit. Here's the part nobody warns Maine landlords about: winning the eviction did nothing to get you that money. In central Maine, a residential eviction gives you possession and only possession. The rent is a separate fight, on a separate track, with its own filing fee and its own set of tools. I've run that track many times out of Penobscot County District Court, and I'm going to walk you through exactly how it works.
This post is educational, not legal advice. Maine landlord-tenant law is particular, and the facts of your situation matter. For advice on a specific property or tenant situation, talk to a Maine-licensed attorney or contact Pine Tree Legal Assistance at ptla.org.
Does a Maine eviction judgment include the back rent you're owed?
No. A residential Forcible Entry and Detainer (FED) case under 14 MRSA §6001 decides one thing: who has the right to possession. It does not award back rent. Maine District Court Civil Rule 80D even forbids joining any other claim to the FED. To collect the money, you file a second, separate case.
This surprises most owners who call us after a nonpayment eviction. You sat in the courtroom, you won, the judge signed the order, and you assume a dollar figure came with it. It didn't. Pine Tree Legal Assistance, which represents tenants across the state, puts it plainly on the tenant side: at the eviction hearing the landlord can only ask for an eviction order and can sue later for money owed. Same rule, read from the other chair.
One exception worth naming so you don't misapply it: for a commercial lease, 14 MRSA §6017 lets the District Court decide the rent owed inside the FED itself. Residential landlords do not get that. If you rent apartments in Bangor, Brewer, or Orono, this shortcut is not available to you, and you're on the two-case path.
How do you turn unpaid rent into a money judgment in Maine?
You file a small claims case or a District Court civil action. For most residential arrears the answer is small claims, because it's fast, cheap, and needs no lawyer. As of January 1, 2026, Maine's small claims limit jumped from $6,000 to $10,000, which now covers most nonpayment cases with damages folded in. Above that, you file a general civil action.
Small claims is filed in the District Court for the division where the property sits or where the former tenant lives. You file a Statement of Claim, pay the fee, and the clerk sets a hearing. The defendant is not required to file a written answer. The Maine Judicial Branch confirms the new ceiling: small claims now seeks a money judgment of $10,000 or less as of January 1, 2026. The jurisdictional bump came through Public Law 2025, chapter 261, which amended the small claims statute at 14 MRSA §7482.
Here's how the two routes actually compare for a Maine landlord chasing back rent.
| Feature | Small Claims | District Court civil action |
|---|---|---|
| Dollar ceiling | Up to $10,000 (as of Jan. 1, 2026) | Up to $30,000 in District Court |
| Filing fee | $70 | $175 |
| Written answer required | No | Yes |
| Discovery / motions | Minimal | Full civil procedure |
| Typical use | Back rent + moderate damages | Large damage claims over the cap |
| Appeal window | 30 days to Superior Court | 21 days to the Law Court |
My default at is small claims. The $70 fee and the no-answer-required structure mean I can get in front of a judge quickly, and the new $10,000 cap finally covers the arrears-plus-damages math on the units we manage. I reserve the full civil action for the rare case where unit damage alone blows past the cap.
14 MRSA §752 gives you a six-year statute of limitations on the underlying rent debt, so you have time, but I don't recommend using it. Memories fade, tenants move out of state, and a fresh claim is easier to prove. File while the paperwork is warm.
What is disclosure, and why does every Maine collection run through it?
Disclosure is Maine's post-judgment process for finding a debtor's income and assets. It's the hinge every other tool swings on. Under 14 MRSA §3123, you bring the former tenant back into court, under oath, to disclose what they earn and what they own. Almost nothing else moves until you've done it.
A money judgment by itself is a piece of paper. Disclosure turns it into leverage. The Maine Judicial Branch lays out the mechanics in its guide, Collecting Money From a Court Judgment. For a small claims judgment you wait 30 days after judgment, then request a disclosure hearing from the clerk and serve the debtor at least seven days out. For a civil judgment you get a disclosure subpoena and serve it at least ten days before the hearing.
At the hearing the debtor testifies about income, bank accounts, vehicles, and real estate. Under 14 MRSA §3125, the court hears the debtor before issuing any order unless the debtor fails to appear. Come with document demands: pay stubs, bank statements, the most recent tax return. What the court can do next depends entirely on what disclosure surfaces.
What can a Maine court order at the disclosure hearing?
The court can order an installment payment plan, order the debtor to turn over specific non-exempt property, or order a sale. Under 14 MRSA §3126-A the judge sets an installment amount based on ability to pay. That installment order matters beyond the cash it produces: it's the legal predicate for a wage order later if the debtor defaults.
The other outcomes are a turnover or sale order for specific property, and, if the debtor simply ignores a subpoena, a civil order of arrest for failure to appear. I lean on the installment order in most cases. It's realistic, courts grant it, and it sets up the escalation path if the tenant stops paying.
How does wage garnishment work in Maine after an eviction judgment?
Maine doesn't use a standing "wage garnishment" writ the way many states do. Instead, after a debtor defaults on an installment order, you get an order to the employer under 14 MRSA §3127-B, directing the employer to withhold and answer. The wage tool grows out of disclosure. It is not a first move.
The statute is specific about the trigger. You file an ex parte motion and affidavit, and the court may approve service on the employer when the debtor either missed two or more installment payments or failed to appear after being subpoenaed. The order must be served on the employer and the debtor within 60 days, and the employer then has 20 days to answer and begin withholding. The same section bars an employer from firing a worker because their earnings are subject to the order.
Now the limit that governs how much you actually see. Maine caps wage capture at the lesser of 25% of the debtor's disposable earnings, or the amount by which weekly disposable earnings exceed 40 times the minimum wage. Maine's minimum wage rose to $15.10 per hour on January 1, 2026, per the Maine Department of Labor. Do the arithmetic: 40 times $15.10 is $604. The first $604 of weekly disposable earnings is untouchable.
That math decides whether a wage order is worth filing. A former tenant earning $604 or less a week in disposable pay yields nothing. Someone clearing $900 a week gives you the lesser of 25% or the excess over $604. Two local wrinkles: Portland and Rockland set their own minimum wages above the state figure ($16.75 and $16.00 respectively in 2026), which arguably raises the protected floor for people working in those cities. Most of our central Maine tenants work at the state wage, so I run the $604 number first and decide from there.
Can you garnish a bank account or reach other property in Maine?
Yes, through an order to third parties to hold and answer under 14 MRSA §3127-A. Served on a bank, it directs the bank to freeze and account for the debtor's money, everything except earnings. This is Maine's version of a bank levy, and it also flows out of what you learn at disclosure.
Once the third party answers, the held property becomes subject to a turnover or sale order unless the debtor requests a hearing within 20 days. The catch is that 14 MRSA §4422 exempts the debtor's first $3,000 in cash or deposit accounts. So a bank order works when disclosure shows a balance meaningfully above $3,000. If the account hovers near zero on payday, you'll spend the fee and freeze nothing.
Maine also has a separate mechanism called trustee process for reaching property a third party holds, but be careful with timing. Pre-judgment trustee process cannot touch earnings at all and is barred outright in consumer-credit cases. As a landlord collecting your own rent, you'll almost always be operating post-judgment through the §3127-A and §3127-B orders above, not pre-judgment trustee process.
How does a judgment become a lien on the tenant's real estate?
You record a writ of execution at the county Registry of Deeds. Under 14 MRSA §4651-A, recording the execution creates a lien on the debtor's non-exempt real estate in that county. This is the attachment track, and it's the one owners overlook most, because it doesn't produce cash on day one. It produces a claim that gets paid when the property sells or refinances.
The sequence matters, so here it is in order.
- Get the money judgment through small claims or a civil action.
- Wait out the appeal period. Under Maine Rule of Civil Procedure 62, no execution issues until the automatic stay expires, and on a default judgment in District Court no execution issues until 10 days after entry.
- Obtain the writ of execution from the clerk. The fee to prepare a writ is $25.
- Record the writ, or an attested copy, at the Registry of Deeds in each county where the tenant owns real estate. You have three years from issuance to record it.
- Send the debtor the required notice within 20 days. Miss this and the lien is void, so calendar it the day you record.
A lien created on or after September 1, 2020 lasts 10 years and can be renewed once for another 10. The underlying judgment itself is enforceable far longer. Under 14 MRSA §864, a Maine judgment is presumed paid only after 20 years, which is why an execution lien is worth recording even against a tenant who owns nothing today but might inherit or buy a house in a decade. The lien sits there and waits.
Recording the lien is not the same as seizing anything. To force a sale you deliver the writ to the sheriff with instructions to levy, and sheriff's fees under 30-A MRSA §421 apply, including a poundage commission on what's collected. In practice I rarely force a sale of a homestead. I record the lien and let a future closing pay me. It's patient money, but it's reliable money.
What property can a Maine landlord never touch?
Maine's exemption statute, 14 MRSA §4422, walls off a long list of property from any judgment creditor. The homestead exemption alone protects $80,000 of equity in a primary residence, rising to $160,000 if the debtor is 60 or older, disabled, or has minor dependents living there. Those numbers shape whether the real-estate track is even worth running.
The exemptions that matter most when you're deciding how to collect are the equity and cash shields, plus a full carve-out for common income sources. Here's the short version of what §4422 puts out of reach.
- Homestead equity up to $80,000, or $160,000 for elderly, disabled, or debtors with minor dependents at home.
- One motor vehicle up to $10,000, and tools of the trade up to $9,500.
- Cash or deposit accounts up to $3,000, which is why small bank balances aren't worth an order.
- Social Security, unemployment compensation, and public assistance benefits, which are exempt regardless of how you try to reach them.
That last bullet is the one that ends most collection efforts. A former tenant whose only income is Social Security or TANF, who rents rather than owns, and whose bank balance never clears $3,000 is what Pine Tree Legal Assistance calls collection proof. The judgment is valid. It's just uncollectable until their circumstances change.
What does it cost, and is the judgment worth chasing?
The out-of-pocket costs are modest, but so is the recovery rate on many eviction judgments, so triage before you file. Small claims runs $70, a disclosure entry adds a small fee, and a writ of execution is $25. The real question isn't cost. It's whether the tenant has anything you're legally allowed to reach.
Your judgment does earn interest while you wait. Post-judgment interest under 14 MRSA §1602-C runs at the one-year Treasury rate plus 6%, which has recently landed around 10%. On a $9,000 judgment that's real money over a few years. But interest on an uncollectable judgment is still zero dollars in hand.
Be clear-eyed about the collectability problem. A Maine firm, Perkins Thompson, frames it honestly: obtaining a judgment and collecting on it are two distinct processes, and collection depends on whether the debtor actually has income or assets you can reach. There's no clean statewide number on how many eviction judgments go unpaid, partly because Maine's courts still run heavily on paper records. My working rule: if disclosure shows exempt income, no real estate, and a thin bank account, I record an execution lien to preserve the 20-year claim and stop spending on active collection. If the tenant is working above the wage floor or owns property, I pursue it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I get a money judgment automatically when I win an eviction in Maine?
No. A residential eviction under 14 MRSA §6001 decides possession only, and Rule 80D bars adding a money claim to the FED. You get the apartment back, not the back rent. To collect unpaid rent and damages you file a separate small claims case or a District Court civil action after the eviction concludes.
What is the small claims limit in Maine in 2026?
The limit is $10,000 as of January 1, 2026, raised from $6,000 by Public Law 2025, chapter 261. The Maine Judicial Branch confirms the new figure. Filing costs $70, no written answer is required from the tenant, and the clerk sets a hearing date. Damage claims above $10,000 go to a District Court civil action instead.
Can I garnish a former tenant's wages in Maine?
Yes, but only after disclosure and an installment order. Once the debtor misses two or more installment payments, you seek an order to the employer under 14 MRSA §3127-B. Maine protects the first $604 of weekly disposable earnings (40 times the $15.10 minimum wage), and caps capture at the lesser of 25% or the excess over that floor.
How long is a Maine judgment good for?
A Maine judgment is presumed paid only after 20 years under 14 MRSA §864. A recorded execution lien on real estate created after September 1, 2020 lasts 10 years and can be renewed once. Because the judgment survives so long, recording a lien is worthwhile even against a tenant who owns nothing today but may acquire property later.
Can I put a lien on my former tenant's house?
Yes, if they own non-exempt real estate. You record a writ of execution at the county Registry of Deeds under 14 MRSA §4651-A, which creates a lien on their interest, then send the required notice within 20 days or the lien is void. Note the homestead exemption shields $80,000 of equity, or $160,000 for elderly, disabled, or dependent households.
What if my former tenant has no job and no assets?
Then the judgment is likely uncollectable for now. Exempt income like Social Security, unemployment, and TANF cannot be reached, and the first $3,000 in a bank account is protected. Pine Tree Legal Assistance calls this being collection proof. Record an execution lien to preserve your 20-year claim, and revisit if the tenant's finances improve.
How Bangor Home Rentals handles collections for the owners we manage
If you own rentals in Bangor or central Maine and want a manager who actually runs the two-case collection process, from the small claims filing through disclosure, wage orders, bank orders, and recorded execution liens, consider us at Bangor Home Rentals. We're a second-generation family business managing hundreds of units across Bangor, Brewer, Orono, Old Town, Ellsworth, and more. We know when a judgment is worth chasing and when it's smarter to record a lien and wait. We'd love to earn your business. You can call us any time at (207) 262-0199 or click here to schedule a free property management consultation. You can also see the central Maine towns we serve.