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Court
Judgments Collections Laws & Statutes
An Overview of California
Collection Law
The procedure for
collecting judgments in California is mostly governed by
the
Enforcement of Judgments Law, usually referred to
the "EJL". The EJL provides a framework for
the basic remedies, including levies, garnishments,
assignment orders, charging orders, and the appointment
of receivers, etc.
In addition to the EJL, a
variety of California statutes provide additional
avenues for creditors to seek relief, such as the
California Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act ("CUFTA").
California debtors have
little protection from creditors. While federal
law caps the Garnishment of Wages at 25% of take
home, the California exemptions are sparse.
In a state where few
homes are valued under $250,000 - the EJL exempts only a
minimal $50,000 for an unmarried person, $75,000 for a
couple ... and $150,000 for those who are disabled or
over the age of 65.
Otherwise, California
exemptions are minimal.
Life Insurance
Policies have minimal protection, and most annuities
have none at all. IRAs and qualified
accounts are subject to the "means test" of CCP
714.115(e) that will leave most debtors uncomfortable in
retirement.
California courts in the
larger counties are organized so that special judges,
known as "Commissioners" sit in special
departments that do little more than hear collection
matters. But the EJL is set up to require a
minimal amount of court involvement in the first place,
allowing court clerks (and sometimes even court
reporters) to sign orders than in many states might
require a full hearing before a district judge.
Debt Collection is
the more difficult practice in California, mainly
because so much of the burden is shifted to the "levying
officer" (aka overworked local sheriff's department)
to go out and grab assets. It is easy to get a
Writ, but much more difficult to get a deputy serve
it, confiscate the assets, warehouse the assets until
sale, and then finally sell the assets off at auction.
The debtor who lets a
California debt linger is a foolish debtor.
Because California's
population is so large, and seemingly more litigious
than elsewhere, there are probably more court opinions
that interpret collection matters than any other state.
Thus, in addition to the
ELJ and
supporting statutes, there is a large body of
case law to which litigants can turn to resolve
certain issues. |
