Let's Go to the Mall...for a Bank Levy

How to Levy a Bank Account in California

I am a huge fan of the TV show How I Met Your Mother. Whenever I hear about something associated with malls, I immediately think of Robin Sparkles' hit song, "Let's Go to the Mall." But now I like malls for another reason: I can have a major bank served with a bank levy there. How is that possible? I'll get there, but first, let's discuss the process of levying a bank account.

How to Levy a Bank Account

Once you have obtained a judgment, the basic process for levying a bank account is as follows:

1. Figure out where your debtor banks. There are several ways to go about this, but I am not going to get into that in this post. Once you have determined where they bank, you must check the State of California's website, which identifies the proper branch to serve bank levies here Bank Levy Central Branch Locator.

2. Obtain a writ of execution for the county that has the correct bank branch. As I discussed in my nuts and bolts of wage garnishment post, the judgment is not the instrument that you need to do bank levies. A writ of execution is the document needed. A writ of execution can be issued for each county in the State of California. Writs are valid for 6 months and can be renewed as long as your judgment is valid. In California, judgments are valid for 10 years and are infinitely renewable.

3. Send the writ with levy instructions to the sheriff of the county. This is another situation where different counties have different instructions for levies and require different things to be submitted. The best source to figure out what is necessary to be submitted is the website of the county sheriffs. Some counties do not have any instructions at all. In that case, you must write your own. We make sure that we keep templates saved for each county in our forms library for quick access. As I mentioned in the wage garnishment post, some county sheriffs will not serve bank levies. In that situation, or the situation where the county sheriff is overwhelmed, which is sometimes the case in Los Angeles and Sacramento, you hire a private process server to serve the levy. You would still have to have the process server open the levy with the sheriff, which is the official levying officer (where the return to the levy must be sent and funds from the levy must be sent).

4. Once the levy is served on the proper bank branch, the bank has a certain time in which it must submit a response to the levy to the sheriff. Occasionally, a bank will not respond to the levy, and we will have to send them a friendly reminder that they need to respond or face a creditor's lawsuit.

5. Once they respond with information on the levy, the judgment debtor is notified of the levy, and they have a certain period of time to claim the funds exempt. Once that time passes, if no claim of exemption is filed, then the bank turns the money over to the sheriff, and then the sheriff cuts us a check.

If you need help levying a bank account contact us HERE

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.