After you win
The court hands you a judgment and then does nothing else. No clerk calls the debtor, no marshal shows up on their own. A judgment is permission to go take the money, and until you use it, it is a piece of paper. This page is every legal way to use it in California.
Renewable once for another ten, but only if you renew before it lapses. An expired judgment cannot be revived.
Simple interest runs from the day judgment was entered, on top of costs you spend trying to collect.
Every pay period, automatically, until the judgment is paid off.
Each of these is something you can do yourself, without a lawyer. Everything except the property lien and the debtor's exam runs through a Writ of Execution, which is the court order telling the sheriff they are allowed to collect for you.
Do this first
You record an Abstract of Judgment with the county recorder. It attaches to any house or land they own there, and to anything they buy later.
The sheriff serves an Earnings Withholding Order on their employer. The employer must hold back part of each check and send it to the sheriff until you are paid.
The sheriff serves the bank, the bank freezes the account and, after the exemption window, sends the money over.
A deputy walks into the business during hours, identifies themselves, and takes what is in the till.
A deputy sits at the business for 8, 24, or 48 hours and collects all receipts as they come in.
The court orders the debtor to appear and answer your questions under oath. They must be personally served, and if they do not show, the judge can issue a bench warrant.
Pick the one that sounds like you. In every case, record the Abstract of Judgment first, because it costs almost nothing and works while you sleep.
Some money is protected by law no matter what the judgment says. Grabbing it does not just fail, it gets reversed and can cost you the sheriff fees.
The debtor gets a window to file a Claim of Exemption after any levy. If they win it, the money goes back. This is normal, not a sign you did something wrong, and it is why a bank levy on someone who lives on Social Security is a waste of the fee.
Interest. Your judgment grows at 10% a year, simple, from the day it was entered. Every sheriff fee and service cost you spend collecting gets added on too, using a Memorandum of Costs, so pursuing it does not come out of your pocket in the end.
Expiration. You have 10 years from entry. You can renew for another ten, but the renewal has to be filed before the original window closes. Miss it and the judgment is gone permanently, which is exactly how most old judgments die: quietly, in a drawer.
The writ has to be issued by the court in the county where the paycheck, the bank branch, or the business actually is, and each sheriff's civil division has its own fee, its own instruction form, and its own number of copies. Our county pages carry the courthouse and filing detail we have verified.
Answer the questions about your judgment once and we assemble the enforcement packet, filled in and ready to hand over the counter.
One payment for this judgment. A collection agency takes 25% to 40% of everything it recovers, out of money that is already yours.
Opening soon
The packet builder opens shortly. Everything on this page is what it produces.
We are not a debt collector and we never contact the person who owes you. We do not buy debt, we do not take a percentage, and we do not call anyone on your behalf. This is a tool for the person who won their own case, and everything it produces goes out under your name.
This is general information about California judgment enforcement, not legal advice, and we are not your attorney. Amounts and fees are typical ranges and vary by county.