Judgment liens in California

What to file, and where

One act creates the lien, and it happens at the county recorder.

Recording an abstract of a money judgment with the county recorder is what creates a California judgment lien on real property, except where another statute provides otherwise. The lien is created by recording an abstract of a money judgment with the county recorder, and that act and office are named in Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 697.310¹. Entry does not do it, and the clerk of the court is the wrong office. Recording, with the recorder.

Installments do not change the rule. Where a money judgment is entered under Code of Civil Procedure section 117 or 582.5, or Vehicle Code section 16380, or a similar judgment, the creation and duration of the lien are governed by the same section even if the judgment is payable in installments. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 697.310 says so. Payment schedule is one question and the lien is another.

What it reaches

The lien is wide in time and narrow in geography, and it bends around a declared homestead.

Within the county, the lien attaches to all interests in real property subject to enforcement of the judgment against the debtor, present or future, vested or contingent, legal or equitable. The lot is caught under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 697.340(a)², except as section 704.950 provides. And the reach extends forward: an interest in the county acquired after the lien was created is caught when it is acquired, under 697.340. Buy in next year and the debtor bought into the lien.

Four things it does not reach. Rental payments, a leasehold estate with an unexpired term of less than 2 years, the interest of a beneficiary under a trust, and real property subject to an attachment lien in favor of the creditor that was transferred before judgment. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 697.340 lists them.

Recording a declared homestead first can keep the lien off. Under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 704.950³, a lien created under Article 2 does not attach to a declared homestead if the homestead declaration was recorded before the abstract or certified copy of the judgment, and the declaration names the debtor or the debtor's spouse as an owner. That protection has a ceiling, though. The lien still attaches to any surplus over all liens and encumbrances on the homestead when the judgment was recorded, plus the exemption in section 704.730, under 704.950. And none of this shelters a support debtor: the declared-homestead rule does not apply to a lien created under section 697.320 by recording a certified copy of a judgment for child, family, or spousal support, under 704.950.

How long it lasts, and renewing it

Ten years from entry, with a renewal that the creditor has to earn and then record.

A California judgment lien on real property continues until 10 years from the date the judgment was entered, unless the judgment is satisfied or the lien released, and subject to renewal of the judgment. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 697.310 fixes the clock. To extend the lien, the judgment itself is renewed by filing an application with the court that entered it, which, except as otherwise provided, extends enforceability for 10 years from the date of filing. That is provided by Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 683.120⁴. The lien then follows, extended until 10 years from the filing of the application, but only if a certified copy of the application is recorded with the county recorder where the property sits before the lien expires, under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 683.180⁵. Renew the judgment and forget the recorder, and the lien lapses anyway.

Renewal is not available on demand. Filing within 5 years of the last renewal bars it, under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 683.110⁶. And for a judgment of the kind identified in 683.110(c), renewal is allowed only once, extending enforceability for 5 years from filing, with no application permitted if the judgment was renewed on or before December 31, 2022. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 683.120 sets that out. Those once-only judgments include a money judgment on a claim related to medical expenses where the principal remaining unsatisfied against a debtor is under $200,000, or on a claim related to personal debt where it is under $50,000, under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 683.110.

A debtor who sold before the creditor renewed is a trap. Where real property was transferred subject to the lien and the transfer was recorded before the renewal application was filed, renewal does not extend the lien unless a copy of the application is personally served on the transferee and proof of service is filed with the court clerk within 90 days of filing the application. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 683.180 requires both. For the clock in general terms, see how long a judgment lien lasts.

Land in another county

This lien stops at the county line.

Interests in real property in the county where the lien is created are what it attaches to. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 697.340 ties the reach to that one county. A lien recorded in Los Angeles does nothing to a parcel in Fresno. Record in each county where the debtor owns land, or record in none of them and the land is untouched.

Homestead here, in one paragraph

A homestead is exempt from forced sale up to an amount the statute no longer states plainly.

Under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 704.720(a)⁷, a homestead is exempt from sale under the enforcement-of-judgments division to the extent provided in section 704.800. Attachment follows the same surplus logic as the judgment lien: under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 487.025(b)⁸, an attachment lien attaches to a homestead only in the amount of any surplus over all liens and encumbrances when the attachment lien is created, plus the exemption in section 704.730.

Here the statute and the real number part ways. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 704.730(a)⁹ sets the exemption at the greater of the countywide median sale price for a single-family home in the calendar year before the debtor claims it, capped at $600,000, or $300,000. But those are the printed figures, not the ones in force. Under 704.730(b), the amounts adjust annually for inflation from January 1, 2022, by the change in the California Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, rounded to the nearest $25. The current figure is higher than the words on the page, and this page will not guess it. For how other states set the floor, see homestead protection state by state.

Where the records live

One office holds the lien, and it is not the courthouse.

One office holds the lien on real property, the county recorder, created by recording an abstract of the money judgment, under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 697.310. That is the office to search and the office to file in. Renewal applications go to the court that entered the judgment, but the land record lives with the recorder.

The same section governs even the installment judgments entered under Code of Civil Procedure section 117 or 582.5, or Vehicle Code section 16380, under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 697.310. For the recording act used in other states, see how a judgment becomes a lien, state by state.