Judgement against me for Chase credit card

[joecitizen]

The Superior Court of Riverside, California has awarded CIR Law Offices a judgement against me for a Chase credit card I used to have.

I received a letter from CIR that basically stated the name of my employer and they will be seeking a wage garnishment.

Questions:

1. How long does CIR have to wait until they can go back to the court and file a writ of execution? It is my understanding that CIR must wait 30 days before they can file the writ. Am I correct?

2. I can go to the Superior Court of Riverside's website and look up the case # and view the minutes. So far only the minutes show the judgement being entered, but nothing of a writ. Will the writ show in the minutes after it is filed?

3. Will the writ of execution grant CIR the right to garnish my wages AND levy my bank accounts? Or is a separate writ necessary for each? (ie.: one writ for garnishment, then a separate writ for a bank levy)

Thank you in advanced for any help/information provided

[treehugger1]

I am not sure about timing in California.

Here in Oregon a separate writ is required for each action (wages, bank levy, etc.) The wage garnishment writs are only good for 90 days here and must be renewed if the judgment is not paid under the first writ.

I doubt that writs of execution will show up in the court case file. Here, the writs do not show up but the garnishee (employer) response is a part of the case file.

You can go down to yoru courthouse and look up a few files and see if you can determine what is filed versus what is not.

[catleg]

I am neither a lawyer nor from California, so take this with a grain of salt.

In CA it appears that the plaintiff (judgment creditor) can apply for a writ of garnishment directly with a levying officer (sheriff).
From that point it's fairly automatic. What you'd want to do is to redirect this process back through the courts, i.e. require a motion for order
and a hearing on the motion, which could take months.

If they want to go after your spouse's earnings, a motion and hearing is automatically required.

To protect your own earnings, you can file an exemption form based on the needs of your family for their support. This stuff I found on a website explains the process in legalese:

In addition to the automatic exemption for nonsupport withholding orders, that portion of an employee's earnings necessary for the support of the judgment debtor or his or her family (including a spouse or former spouse) is exempt from nonsupport earnings withholding orders (Ca Civ Pro - 706.051(a),(b)). Thus, under appropriate circumstances, an employee may be able to exempt all of his or her earnings from a nonsupport withholding order.

To obtain this exemption, the judgment debtor must file a timely claim of exemption with the levying officer. If the judgment creditor fails to oppose the clai, the exemption is automatically granted and the earnings must be released. A claim of exemption can be made by the judgment debtor any time during the withholding period. [Ca Civ Pro - 706.105(a)] An earnings withholding order is effective 10 calendar days after service.

An exemption is claimed by filing with the levying officer (not the court) an original and one copy of the official Claim of Exemption form; and a Financial Statement. [Ca Civ Pro - 706.105(b)] After the exemption claim is filed, the levying officer must promptly send to the judgment creditor (by first-class mail, postage prepaid, to the address stated in the withholding order application) a copy of the Claim of Exemption, a copy of the Financial Statement; and a Notice of Filing Claim of Exemption (below). [Ca Civ Pro - 706.105(c)]

A judgment creditor wishing to oppose the claim of exemption must file a Notice of Opposition with the levying officer within 10 days after the date the Notice of Claim of Exemption was mailed. [Ca Civ Pro - 706.105(d)] (This 10-day period is not extended where the claim of exemption was served by mail; see Ca Civ Pro - 684.310 and Comment to Ca Civ Pro - 706.105.) In addition to timely filing the Notice of Opposition, the judgment creditor must file with the court within 10 days after the levying officer mailed the Notice of Claim of Exemption, a Notice of Motion for an Order Determining the Claim of Exemption. [Ca Civ Pro - 706.105(e)] The judgment creditor must also complete and file with the court the official form Notice of Hearing on Claim of Exemption. [Ca Civ Pro - 706.105(e)] The judgment creditor must give written notice of the hearing to the levying officer at least 16 court days before the hearing. [Ca Civ Pro -- 706.105(e), 1005(b)] At least 16 court days before the hearing, the judgment creditor must also serve a copy of both the notice of opposition and the notice of hearing on the judgment debtor (and his or her attorney if requested in the claim of exemption) at the address set forth in the claim of exemption. Proof of service must be filed with the court. [Ca Civ Pro -- 706.105(e), 1005(b)]

If the notice of opposition and notice of motion are timely filed, the court hearing on the claim of exemption must be held no more than 30 days after the notice of motion is filed (unless continued by the court for good cause). The levying officer must file the originals of the claim of exemption and notice of opposition with the court. [Ca Civ Pro - 706.105(e)] If the court grants the exemption claim, it may direct that the earnings withholding order be modified or terminated. The effective date of termination can precede the date of the hearing. The court may also order that any exempt earnings previously withheld be repaid to the judgment debtor. [Ca Civ Pro - 706.105(g),(i)] The court need not make any findings. [Ca Civ Pro - 706.106] The court clerk must transmit a certified copy of the order modifying or terminating the earnings withholding order to the levying officer. The levying officer must then promptly serve on the judgment debtor's employer either a copy of the modified earnings withholding order or a notice that the withholding order has been terminated. [Ca Civ Pro - 706.105(g)]

Hopefully the judgment creditor is a high volume "mill" unprepared to jump through all those hoops (in my experience lawyers are extremely lazy, otherwise they would be doing honest work, right? :-)

[joecitizen]

How long does the judgement creditor have to wait once a judgement has been entered before they can file a writ of garnishment? Does a writ of execution need to be filed first then a writ of garnishment?

What you'd want to do is to redirect this process back through the courts, i.e. require a motion for order
and a hearing on the motion, which could take months.

What is a motion on order?

I am also concerned about a bank levy. How will I know my bank account has been frozen other than trying to use my debit card and it doesn't work or a check bounces?

I am doing as much research as possible, but am getting confused with all the different information I find.

[LadyInTheRed]

You can get information on California procedures at http://www.courts.ca.gov/1326.htm. It includes information on how to respond to wage garnishment and bank levy. You will get a copy of the garnishment or levy order and have 10 days to file a claim for exemption.

If an account is levied, you'll either find out by getting a copy of the garnishment or by being unable to use your debit card or getting notice of a bounced check. It depends on the timing of when the bank gets the order compared to when you get it, how long it takes the bank to freeze the account and when you try to use money in your account. The best thing to do is not keep any money in your account.

I am pretty sure that the order for garnishment/levy will be part of the court file. I don't have any experience looking up cases in Riverside County. But, in the counties where I have looked up cases, it is the Register of Actions you want to look at to see what has been filed. The minutes is typically a record of what happens at hearings.

[catleg]

Sorry I hope I didn't overly confuse you.
In NJ and some other states, a wage garnishment is a court ORDER which must be requested by a MOTION.
As the "victim" you respond to the motion in court if you wish to object.

In other states such as CA apparently the plaintiff goes right to the sheriff (an ORDER is implied).
However you do get a chance to respond with the exemption request.

In other places (such as NC and Tenn) the debtor has to file exemptions with the court before the wage garnishment order hits the sheriff, by then it is too late to stop it.

Normally I think that whatever period your court system allows for an appeal to be filed must elapse before they come after you. In NJ this is just 14 days.