Domesticating a Judgment in California

How to DOMESTICATE AND collect on your out of State Judgment in California

By Bryan Grundon

California is one of only two states that has not enacted the Revised Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act, the purpose of which is to simplify the process of collecting on your judgment in a state different from the one in which it was entered. In California you apply for entry of a sister state judgment. Since the process is unique to California having a firm that understands the process is critical to quickly getting your judgment ready for execution. This post describes the process of bringing another state court judgment to California. You can bring a federal district court judgment to California as well but the process is different.

What you need to Start THE PROCESS

To turn your out of state judgment to a California sister state judgment you will need to file several documents:

1. Application for entry of sister state judgment. You will need to fill out all the information requested. California allows you to add post judgment interest at the legal rate of the state of origin. You much provide the rate and statute from the state your judgment was entered in. You must attach a certified copy of the original judgment to this document.

2. Notice of entry of sister state judgment. This document is the basically the summons equivalent for this type of case. You will transfer information you’ve already filled out on the application for sister state judgment.

3. Civil Case Coversheet. You are filing a new California case. You will check the enforcement of judgment box for the case type.

4. Sister State Judgment. This is not mandatory in all counties. The San Diego version is linked here. You will need to check county to county to see if it is necessary for your matter.

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER YOU FILE THE DOCUMENTS WITH THE CALIFORNIA COURT?

If everything is in order the court will file the case, enter the judgment and give you a local case number. You must serve all the required documents above on your judgment debtor. There are a limited number of grounds a judgment debtor can challenge the entry of a sister state judgment In most cases, before you can collect on it, you will need to serve the new judgment on the debtor and allow them thirty days to respond before you can take any involuntary action to execute on the judgment. If the judgment debtor is not a resident of California or emergency circumstances approved by a Superior Court judge execution proceedings are allowed immediately.

Once execution is allowed a sister state judgment operates like a California judgment in all respects. From the time of filing they accrue post judgment interest at the California rate of 10% per year.

Law Office of Bryan M. Grundon utilizes many post judgment tools to collect your judgment. Contact us today for help domesticating and executing on your judgment.

ENFORCING AN OUT OF STATE JUDGMENT IN CALIFORNIA

By Bryan Grundon

One of the worst things you can be told after going through the lengthy and expensive process of obtaining a judgment is that your debtor has moved to another state – and taken their assets with them. The court has already decided that they owe you money. It shouldn’t be hard to enforce it, should it?

Unfortunately, California is one of only two states that has not enacted the Revised Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act, the purpose of which is to simplify the process of collecting on your judgment in a state different from the one in which it was entered. All hope is not lost, though. We can help simplify the process of enforcing your judgment in California.

The Superior Court of California requires an out-of-state judgment to be domesticated before you can collect on it. This involves obtaining a certified copy of the original judgment and filing it with the local court along with a number of other documents detailing the terms of the judgment and notifying the debtor of the domestication. Once all of the necessary paperwork has been filed with the court, you will be able to obtain what in California is called a sister-state judgment, which allows for the enforcement of your original judgment.

In most cases, before you can collect on it, you will need to serve the new judgment on the debtor and allow them thirty days to respond. Once the thirty days have passed, or the court rules on the challenge to the judgment, we can begin the collection process on the judgment in California, just like you would in the judgment’s original state of entry. If the judgment debtor is not a resident of California or emergency circumstances approved by a Superior Court judge execution proceedings are allowed immediately.

We do whatever it takes to give you the best possible shot of collecting on your judgment, from levying your debtor’s bank account, to garnishing his wages or putting a lien on any property she may own in California. Even if you don’t know what kind of assets your debtor has in California, we can take care of it. Our staff, along with the experienced process servers and private investigators that work with us, know just how to track down a debtor’s assets, from running bank skips to locate their open bank accounts, to serving them with an order to appear in court and reveal their asset information.

Recently, we had a case where we obtained a sister-state judgment against a corporation doing business in California. When our client could not provide us with viable asset information on the debtor, we had our process server track down the CEO of the company and personally serve him to appear in court and provide us with all of the company’s financial details. Whatever your situation, you can rest assured that your foreign judgment is in good hands with us.