Collecting A Judgment

[tessiree]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
CALIFORNIA

I have a judgment against me, and received a subpoena for personal apperance and production of documents and things at trial. I make minimum wage, have nothing of value, and own one car (fully paided for) that I use to get to work. I am a renter and do not own any property. The furnishings in the home where I live belong to my live-in girlfriend. I do not have a checking or savings account and do not own credit cards. What can be taken as payment on the judgment? What happens next?

Any information or help would be much appreciated.

Thank You.

 

[garrula lingua]

Appear at the ORAP and cooperate fully.
Answer all questions truthfully; they will decide what, if anything, they will do to collect.

 

[dolebot]

The most likely step here may be a wage garnishment.

 

[dcatz]

garrula lingua is right, but this is a situation where you may be most fully informed by doing some “independent study”.

The judgment creditor is trying to decide if and how the judgment can be collected. One way is to make an agreement with you for voluntary payments. That’s the least stressful and expensive for both of you. In the meantime, the creditor is trying to decide what there is to collect involuntarily by bringing you into court to answer questions and produce documents concerning assets.

If the judgment was in Small Claims, you may have been served with an Order to Produce Statement of Assets and to Appear for Examination. In a higher court, it may have been an Application and Order for Appearance and Examination. Both serve the same purpose. A Production Subpoena may be served with the latter. The documents and the proceeding itself are often referred to collectively as an “ORAP”. As you were told, any question concerning assets or reasonably intended to lead to the discovery of assets is fair game.

(You also could have been served with a Subpoena for Personal Appearance and Production of Documents and Things at Trial but, if judgment has been entered, it suggests that your creditor is as new at this as you are.)

Once the creditor understands your status, if you don’t effect voluntary agreement, enforcement efforts will begin. There are many forms that this can take. Bank levies and wage garnishments are among the most common. To that end, you should understand what is exempt from enforcement. These are your exemptions:
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/forms/fillable/ej155.pdf

If the judgment creditor tries to reach exempt assets, you need to file a Claim of Exemption:
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/forms/fillable/ej160.pdf

There is a separate form to claim wage garnishment exemptions:
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/forms/fillable/wg006.pdf.

Either form will need to be accompanied by a Financial Statement:
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/forms/fillable/ej165.pdf

Those forms can be completed online and filed.

Judgments can last a long time (20 years in your state). Interest accrues and they hurt your credit. Try to work something out to get this behind you. If you could work out a way to resolve it promptly and without enforcement, you may even be able to negotiate making the whole record disappear (use the “search” function for “vacating judgment”).