Unlike the sale and seizure of personal property the execution of judgment can be much more successful when seizing and selling the judgment debtor’s real property. Of course there must be enough equity in the property after paying off the existing liens to satisfy your judgment. Civil judgment enforcement can be challenging, but recording a judgment lien on real property and then foreclosing on the real property is an effective remedy to satisfy a judgment in full.
To start this process you may conduct a judgment debtor’s examination. The judgment debtor will have to fill out an information form about their asses including any real property. If the judgment debtor actually owns real property an investigation of the existing liens should conducted. Keep in mind there are court fees and the sheriff’s department has fees as well throughout this process. If the property does not have enough equity to satisfy the existing liens plus your judgment the time and expense of foreclosing on the property is not worth it. Assuming the real property does have enough equity a writ of execution will have to be obtained from the superior court. After that instructions must be given the sheriff’s department it issue and serve the notice of levy on the judgment debtor. Once an order is issued a notice of sale will be posted in public, published in a newspaper and sent to other lienholders if any. If everything goes well hopefully you will then be filing a notice of satisfaction of the judgment with the court saying the judgment was paid in full.
This process is not as easy as it may sound and the odds of the judgment debtor owning real property with enough equity to satisfy a judgment is not likely. Other remedies like wage garnishment or bank account levies is more likely to be more successful and cost effective. If you have a judgment in California and are in need to assistance please give us a call at 1-877-963-9543.
