Ever Wonder What Happens To A California Civil Judgment After 10 Years?

California civil judgments are valid for ten years from the date they were entered. If you haven't been able to collect the balance by then, renewing the judgment can be a powerful tool.

What is Judgment Renewal?

Renewing a judgment is a legal process that extends the enforceability of an existing judgment, not creating a new one. This means you can still collect on the debt for an additional ten years. The court clerk handles the renewal process, so there's no need for a new court hearing.

How Does Renewal Work?

Before the ten-year mark hits, you'll need to submit a form (Judicial Council form EJ-190 or similar) to initiate the renewal process. This form details the original judgment amount, any accrued interest, the filing fee, and the new, total judgment amount.

Here's a bonus of judgment renewal: all the accrued interest gets added to the principal amount. This means you'll start earning interest on the interest, increasing the daily amount owed.

Renewing the Judgment Lien

If you placed a lien on the debtor's real property with an abstract of judgment, the good news is that renewing the judgment also renews the lien's priority. This ensures your claim gets paid before other creditors who might come along later.

Remember to Record the Renewal!

This is crucial: to maintain the lien's priority, you must record the renewal application with the county recorder where the property is located. This step ensures your renewed lien's priority remains based on the original judgment date, not the renewal date.

Renewing a judgment is a valuable tool for creditors in California. By following these steps, you can ensure your ability to collect on the debt for an additional ten years.

Enforcing an Out-of-State Family Law Order in California: A Step-by-Step Guide

Are you living in California but your family law support order was issued in another state? You might be wondering how to enforce that order in your current location. Many people don't know that the process for registering a family law order is different from the process for getting a civil judgment registered in California.  You can find our guide to register an out of state civil order  HERE .  Most of the time clients approach me for help registering their family law judgment after unsuccessfully attempting to get their family law judgment registered using civil forms.  Here's a step-by-step guide to registering an out-of-state family law support order in California:

What needs to be filed with the court:

You need to obtain a Certified copy of the out-of-state order from the issuing court in the other state.  You will need to make a written request for registration to the court.  Typically, the registering party files a declaration on pleading paper with the certified copy of the order as an exhibit.   You will need to include the judicial council form: Registration of Out-of-State Custody Order (Form FL-580):    You can find this form HERE .  You will need to identify any arrears that are due on this form.  Once you have there you submit them to the court for filing.  

What happens after you have submitted the order:

These out of state support orders are not particularly common.  I have found that court clerks sometimes struggle to get these issued in a timely manner because they are unfamiliar with them and the process to register them.  You might need to follow up with the clerk’s office until the court registers your order.  Once the court has registered your order it must be served on the other party in the same manner as you would serve a summons.  The other parent has 20 days to object to the registration of the order. If they do not object in that time frame the order becomes enforceable.