The answer is: a lot. Texas courts have broad discretion to fashion whatever remedy fits the facts. They are not limited to one tool. In most of our fraudulent transfer cases, we ask the court for two or three different forms of relief at once, because the combination is what actually gets our client paid.
The menu of available remedies under TUFTA is unusually broad for a state statute. The major categories of relief are below.
Void the Transfer
The most basic remedy is also one of the most useful. The court declares the transfer void. Legally, it is treated as if it never happened. The asset goes back into the debtor’s name, and we execute against it the same way we would execute against any other asset the debtor owns. Writs of execution, garnishment, abstracts of judgment. The standard tools work once the transfer is undone.
Avoidance is the right remedy when the asset still exists in identifiable form and has not picked up legitimate liens or improvements since the transfer.
Freeze the Asset With a TRO or Injunction
This is often the first thing we ask for, and we ask for it on the first day. A Temporary Restraining Order can be issued on emergency notice, sometimes inside 24 hours, and it stops the transferee from moving, encumbering, or spending the asset while the case is pending. After the TRO, a temporary injunction continues the freeze through trial.
If a client calls us and the transfer just happened, this is where we start. The longer the asset sits with the transferee, the more opportunities he has to move it again, sell it, or run it through a chain of further transfers. The TRO is how we stop that clock.
Appoint a Receiver
For some assets, voiding the transfer is not enough. The transferee has been running the business since the transfer. The rental property has tenants who pay him every month. The aircraft is sitting in his hangar. A receiver is a neutral third party, usually a lawyer or an accountant, who takes the asset out of the transferee’s hands and manages it for the court.
Receivers are especially useful for income-producing assets where control matters as much as title. They collect rents, manage operations, and, when authorized, sell the asset and distribute the proceeds.
Enter a Money Judgment Against the Transferee
This is the remedy that makes fraudulent transfer cases so valuable to our clients. The court can enter a personal money judgment against the person who received the asset, for the value of what they received or for the amount needed to satisfy the creditor’s claim, whichever is less.
That judgment follows the transferee. It is enforceable against their own non-exempt assets and their own bank accounts, the same as any other money judgment. Their homestead, though, is exempt to them just as it would be to anyone else. The wife who took the deed, the son who took the business, the partner who took the equipment. Each of them is now in their own collection case alongside the debtor.
The transferee usually did not see this coming. The debtor sold them on the idea that they were doing him a favor. By the time we are done, the transferee understands they are personally on the hook.
Order the Asset Sold
If the asset is going to be sold to satisfy the judgment, the court can order the sale directly, through the receiver, through a constable’s auction under a writ of execution, or through some other judicial mechanism. This is most useful for commercial real estate, equipment, business interests, and other assets where a real market exists.
Award Attorney’s Fees and Costs
TUFTA lets the court award attorney’s fees and costs, in its discretion, as are equitable and just, and in practice that award commonly goes to the prevailing party. It is one of the most important features of the statute. A debtor or a transferee who wants to fight the case through trial knows that losing can mean paying our client’s legal bill on top of the underlying judgment.
We have settled cases on the courthouse steps because the defendant finally did the math on what continued fighting would cost. Fee shifting changes the strategic calculation in our client’s favor.
Anything Else the Court Thinks Is Appropriate
TUFTA gives Texas courts open-ended authority to enter “any other relief the circumstances may require.” Courts have used that language to impose constructive trusts on transferred assets, to order tracing of funds through multiple accounts, to require disclosure of further transfers, and to fashion remedies tailored to whatever scheme the debtor invented.
Texas judges treat the catchall language in Section 24.008 the way the legislature wrote it, which is as a genuine grant of discretion to fit the remedy to the case. We have asked for and obtained relief under that catchall provision in cases where the standard remedies did not fully address the harm.
From Judgment to Actual Collection
Winning the TUFTA case is not the last step. Once the court voids the transfer or enters a money judgment, the creditor still has to enforce. That means writs of execution, abstracts of judgment, bank garnishments, post-judgment depositions, and the rest of the post-judgment toolkit.
Cook Keith & Davis does the TUFTA litigation and the collection. A judgment is just a piece of paper if nobody collects on it. We collect.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a court freeze assets before the case is fully litigated?
Yes. A TRO is available on emergency notice, and a temporary injunction extends the freeze through trial. We get TROs on less than 24 hours' notice when the facts support it.
What if the transferred asset has already been sold or spent?
The case continues against the transferee, but the remedy shifts from voiding the transfer to a money judgment for the value received. The page called "When the Asset Is Already Gone" covers this in detail.
Can we get attorney's fees from both the debtor and the transferee?
Yes. Both can be defendants, and both can be on the hook for fees if we prevail. In practice, fees most often come out of whoever has assets to pay.
Does the court have to void the whole transfer, or can it void part of it?
Partial avoidance is available where it makes sense. If only part of the transferred value was fraudulent (say the debtor received some real consideration but far less than the asset was worth), a court can void the transfer to the extent of the shortfall.
How quickly does the court process move?
It depends on the facts. Emergency TROs are days. Standard litigation can run a year or more if the defendant fights. Many cases settle before trial because the math gets bad for the defendant fast.
Once we have a money judgment against the transferee, can we collect against their homestead?
Generally no. Their homestead is exempt the same way anyone else's would be. But their non-homestead assets are reachable, and in a fraudulent conversion case under Property Code Section 42.004, even the homestead exemption can be defeated as to the converted funds.
This page describes the remedies generally available under TUFTA. Which remedies apply to your case depends on facts a lawyer needs to see. Treat this page as orientation, not a forecast.
The Texas Fraudulent Transfer Statutes are complicated affairs. These pages are meant to explain the law in terms that are as simple as we can make them. Sometimes we have ignored limited exceptions and other quirks in the law so that the general concepts could be conveyed clearly. Your situation needs to be carefully analyzed. No two situations are identical and you need legal advice before making an important decision. Use this website as a guide only.