Todd Chrisley is gonna have a hard time paying the 3 quarters-of-a-million dollar judgment against him while behind bars -- so says his attorney, who tells us TC's got bigger fish to fry.
The reality star's attorney, Jay Surgent, tells TMZ ... he spoke with Todd Tuesday, and it's been made clear Todd doesn't have an income right now while he's doing time in prison -- so it'll be an uphill battle figuring out a way to pay off the $755k he just got hit with.
Surgent says Todd's been deprived of his ability to work while in lock-up -- and not just that ... but there's an even bigger tab he owes somebody right now to the tune of millions.
Of course, we're referring to the $17 million the government is trying to collect from him in his bank fraud case ... and his lawyer says that certainly takes priority over the $755k.
Surgent -- who didn't represent Todd in the defamation case -- adds TC isn't happy with the defamation case ruling at all ... as he feels he didn't libel or slander anyone. JS says Todd thinks he shouldn't bear the responsibility of paying hundreds of thousands in damages over it ... and will likely appeal the ruling.
With all this combined, it's safe to say Todd's facing quite a financial hurdle.
As we reported, Georgia Department of Revenue investigator Amy Doherty-Heinze took Todd to court a couple years back, claiming Todd defamed her when he launched a scathing social media campaign against her that accused her of illegally accessing a government program to gather info on his family. He also made some inflammatory remarks about her in a 2022 podcast.
Doherty-Heinze ended up winning the case ... a judge found Todd had defamed her.
As you know, Todd is in the midst of serving a 12-year sentence at FPC Pensacola over fraud charges, while his wife Julie is serving 7 years over at FMC Lexington in Kentucky.