By yonah · 2025-11-19 · 6 min read
A money judgment is a piece of paper until it is enforced. A working guide to abstracts of judgment, bank levies, wage garnishments, debtor examinations, and the renewal clock under CCP §683.020.
Obtaining a California money judgment is the easy part. Collecting on it is the work that actually determines whether the case had any value. A defendant who does not appear, does not answer, and does not pay the resulting judgment is not unusual, and it is not, by itself, a problem the law solves automatically. Enforcement is the creditor's responsibility, on the creditor's timeline, with the creditor's filing fees. The judgment is a tool; the tools below are how that tool gets used.
California money judgments are enforceable for ten years from the date of entry. CCP § 683.020. After ten years, the judgment is no longer enforceable (no abstract, no levy, no garnishment, no examination) unless it has been renewed under CCP §§ 683.110–683.220 before the ten-year deadline.
Renewal is a paper-only filing (a Notice of Renewal of Judgment, EJ-190, and an Application for Renewal of Judgment, EJ-190) filed before the original ten-year period expires. Renewal extends the judgment for another ten years and includes accrued interest and post-judgment costs in the renewed amount. Miss the deadline and the judgment is unenforceable; the creditor cannot revive it.
Calendar the renewal date at year nine, not year ten. The court clerk does not remind you. The debtor does not remind you. The renewal must be filed before the ten-year date, not on it.
California money judgments accrue interest at ten percent per annum from the date of entry. CCP § 685.010. That is a meaningful number. A $50,000 judgment unpaid for five years has accrued $25,000 in statutory interest. On any enforcement, post-judgment costs and interest are added to the principal and recovered alongside the underlying judgment.
An Abstract of Judgment (EJ-001), recorded in the county recorder's office of each county where the judgment debtor owns or may acquire real property, creates a judgment lien on that real property under CCP § 697.310. The lien attaches to all real property in the county, present and after-acquired, and remains in place until the judgment is paid, satisfied, or expires.
Abstracts of Judgment are the lowest-effort, highest-leverage enforcement tool available. They are filed once, recorded in any county where the debtor might own real estate, and they sit. When the debtor refinances, sells, or transfers any property, the lien must be addressed at closing. We routinely record abstracts in counties beyond the debtor's known residence; judgment debtors do not always disclose their full real-property holdings.
Where the creditor has the debtor's bank-account information, a bank levy is the most direct collection tool. The creditor obtains a Writ of Execution (EJ-130) and delivers it to the Sheriff Civil Division of the county where the bank branch is located. The Sheriff serves the writ on the bank, the bank freezes the account up to the amount of the judgment, and the funds are turned over after the debtor's statutory exemption window expires.
Bank-account information is the gating constraint. We obtain it either through pre-existing records, through a judgment-debtor examination (below), or through subpoenas to known financial institutions in cases where the debtor's banking footprint is identifiable.
For employed judgment debtors, a wage garnishment under the Wage Garnishment Law (CCP sections 706.010 to 706.154) reaches far less than it used to. Senate Bill 1477 rewrote the formula effective September 1, 2023. The maximum now is the lesser of twenty percent of the debtor's weekly disposable earnings, or forty percent of the amount by which those earnings exceed forty-eight times the state minimum hourly wage. Where the debtor works somewhere with a higher local minimum wage, the local figure is used, which shelters more income in Los Angeles than the state number would. The practical effect is that garnishment against a lower-wage debtor now frequently yields nothing at all, and a collection strategy built on wage levies alone will disappoint.
The mechanics are unchanged. The creditor obtains an Earnings Withholding Order (WG-002), delivers it to the Sheriff, and the Sheriff serves the employer, who withholds and remits until the judgment is satisfied or the order is terminated.
Wage garnishments are slow but durable. The order remains in place until the judgment is satisfied or the debtor leaves the employer. Where the debtor is a long-term W-2 employee, a wage garnishment is frequently the cleanest path to full satisfaction.
Where the creditor does not have asset information, CCP § 708.110 authorizes an Order for Appearance and Examination, under which the judgment debtor is ordered to appear in court and answer questions, under oath, about his assets, income, banking, employment, and real property. Failure to appear is punishable by contempt and, in many counties, by a bench warrant.
We routinely conduct judgment-debtor examinations early in the enforcement process. The examination produces the bank-account information for the levy, the employer information for the garnishment, and the real-property holdings for the abstract. One examination, three enforcement tools.
Treat the judgment as the beginning of the case, not the end. Calendar the ten-year renewal at year nine. Record abstracts in every county where the debtor might own real property. Conduct a debtor examination if you do not have current asset information. Levy the bank when you do. Garnish the wages when employment is known. Most California money judgments are collectible. They are just not collected, because no one does the post-judgment work.
This article is general information about California law. It is not legal advice and is not a substitute for advice from an attorney who knows the facts of your situation.
Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship with Yasmeh Law Group, and neither does contacting the firm. That relationship begins only after a conflicts check and a signed written engagement agreement. Do not send confidential information before then.
The statutes and deadlines described were accurate as understood on 2025-11-19. California law changes and any rule depends on the particular facts. Case results mentioned do not guarantee a similar outcome. Yasmeh Law Group practices only in California.
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