Ranscapture
Junior Member
Hi, I had my small claims case on June 24th, and I had a trip out of country on June 25th- August 7th. The decision was decided in my favor after court was over for the day so I didn't get to find out until I got home from my trip on August 7th. The letter I received telling me of my positive judgement was on the 27th, and when I checked, they hadn't filed an appeal. So it has been over 30 days since they were notified of the judgement against them.
What is my first course of action to get my money from them? Do I still need to send them a letter asking them to voluntarily pay the $310 they owe me or continue on to a next step since its been longer than 30 days?
This is what the California document says:
What is my first course of action to get my money from them? Do I still need to send them a letter asking them to voluntarily pay the $310 they owe me or continue on to a next step since its been longer than 30 days?
This is what the California document says:
If the court ordered the other side to pay you...
You are the judgment creditor. You must collect your judgment. The court will not collect it for you. Some steps you can take to collect your money are summarized below. For more information, go to www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp /smallclaims/collectintro.htm
Important!The judgment debtor has 30 days after the Notice of Entry of Judgment was handed or mailed to him or her to appeal or pay or ask the court to cancel or correct the judgment. You cannot take legal steps to collect the judgment during this time.
Ask the judgment debtor to pay you the money. If the judgment debtor cannot afford to pay the judgment all at once, consider offering to take payments. If your claim was for possession of property, ask the judgment debtor to return the property to you.
If the judgment debtor does not pay, you can find out about the debtor's income or property that the sheriff can take to satisfy the judgment.
•If the debtor does not pay within 30 days after the court clerk delivered or mailed the Notice of Entry of Judgment, the debtor must send you Form SC-133, Judgment Debtor's Statement of Assets. This form will tell you what property the debtor has that may be used to pay the judgment.
•If the debtor does not send you the completed Form SC-133, you can file Form SC-134, Application and Order to Produce Statement of Assets and to Appear for Examination. In this form, you can also ask the court to award you your attorney fees, expenses, and other appropriate relief.
•If the debtor does send you Form SC-133, you can still have the debtor come to court to answer questions about income and property. To do this, file Form EJ-125, Application and Order for Appearance and Examination.