subject: California Sheriff Levies [print this page] I am not a lawyer, I am a Judgment and Collection Agency Broker. This article is my opinion, based on my experience in California, and laws are different in each state. If you want a strategy to use or legal advice, you should contact a lawyer. An important foundation of civil law is jurisdiction. Most often, a judgment needs to be domesticated to the state and county, close to the debtor. If a bank does business in several states, sometimes one can have the sheriff levy a branch in the creditor's state, and levy/garnish far-away judgment debtor bank funds with long-arm statues.
New York has made progress in this area. When a judgment debtor has an account at any bank, and that bank maintains a branch in New York, one can levy on the account in NY, no matter where the account was opened. One domesticates a judgment in NY, and levies the NY bank account.
However, in NY, there remains the problem of a new trial required to domesticate a default judgment there. Also, in NY, most often the first $1,716 to $2,500 in the judgment debtor's bank account is exempt from garnishment.
All garnishments are accomplished through sheriff or marshals, in the county where the assets of a judgment debtor is located. In California, there is a substantial variation in the policies and performance of the County Sheriffs, in all 58 counties.
Every California Sheriff has their own policy on how garnishments can be served. Always verify sheriff policies before you pay a sheriff to levy a bank account. Most often, on a California garnishment, the bank sends a memorandum of garnishee to the sheriff. However, if the levy is paid in full, the bank does not have to return the memorandum of garnishee to the sheriff.
It is a big advantage, when you can choose which county the bank garnishment will be done at. Each civil sheriff office is different, all require you to pay them. Some will serve levies themselves, others require you to hire a registered process server. Some civil sheriffs are quick, others are slow. All Civil Sheriff Departments In California do the best job they can, and are professional.
When it comes to processing, or serving, levy papers; most California Civil Sheriffs are average. Some are slower or faster than average, and below is a list of what I have learned about non-average California County Civil Sheriff departments in recent years:
Los Angeles County - the main downtown Los Angeles civil sheriff is very slow. Use a registered process server to do levies. The sheriffs of Santa Monica, Indio, Van Nuys, Chatsworth, Riverside, Burbank, and Lancaster, are all very slow.
Los Angeles County - The sheriffs of Chula Vista, West Covina, Torrance, Pasadena, Inglewood, and El Monte, are all quick. The Malibu Sheriff is quick, however they are difficult to find on a web search: Malibu Civil Sheriff, 1725 Main Street, Santa Monica, 90401 (310) 553-5033.
Orange County - this sheriff redacts social security numbers on garnishment instructions to banks. Use a process server, or ask the bank to phone you for the debtor SS number. Orange county has a centralized location for issuing writs and abstract of judgments, no matter which Orange County court issued the judgment.
Sacramento County - has a very efficient and quick Civil Sheriff department.
San Francisco County - very quick.
Santa Clara County - fairly quick, however it can take them years to return an unsuccessful garnishment report.
