Introduction
If you win at trial and the judgment says the other person owes you money or property, you are the “judgment creditor.” The person who lost is called the “judgment debtor.”
Enforcing Your Judgment
You have to take legal steps to collect the judgment. The court will not collect it for you. You may not take action for 30 days from the date that the clerk mailed the Notice of Entry of Judgment (SC-130) to the parties.
During the 30 day period, the judgment debtor may do one of the following:
Pay in full or request to make payments to you or the court (see below “What to do After the Judgment is Paid”).
Appeal the decision if they appeared at the trial.
File a Motion to Vacate the Judgment if they did not appear at the trial.
Complete and mail to you a Judgment Debtor’s Statement of Assets (SC-133) .
If the judgment debtor takes no action, below are the legal steps that you may take to collect your judgment in the order in which you may want to proceed:
Get in touch with the judgment debtor.
Levy (seize) assets that you have personal knowledge of or listed on the Judgment Debtor’s Statement of Assets form.
Examine judgment debtor in court to locate unknown assets.
Suspend the judgment debtor’s driver’s license the judgment is for auto accident.
Suspend the judgment debtor’s professional license (example: Contractor’s License).
Place a lien on land, buildings, or residence.
Contacting the Judgment Debtor
Start by getting in touch with the judgment debtor. Give them an address where they can mail the payment. You can offer to accept less than the whole judgment if they pay right away. Or, you can agree to take regular payments.
Write to the judgment debtor instead of calling. That way, you cannot argue. The person who owes you money can pay you or the court all at once, or ask to make payments. Both parties can also “stipulate” (agree) to a payment plan. Fill out the form Stipulation for Time Payments (L-1094) and file it with the court after it has been signed by both parties.
If you cannot agree on a payment plan, the judgment debtor can file a form called Request to Make Payments (SC-220) . The court will mail you a copy. You can file a Response to Request to Make Payments (SC-221) that lets the court know what kind of payment plan you want. Read the Payments In Small Claims (SC-220-INFO) for more information.