Renewing Judgments

By
Laurie Murphy

Don’t let time rob you of your right to enforce your judgment!

Money judgments in California are enforceable for a ten year period, during which time simple interest accrues at 10% per annum. However, unless you renew it, a judgment creditor cannot enforce a judgment after the ten year period has expired. This predicament can easily be avoided since renewing a judgment is very straightforward. The judgment creditor simply needs to fill out and file an application for renewal of the judgment and file it with the court. In that form, the judgment creditor lists the original judgment amount plus any costs incurred after the original judgment was entered plus the accrued interest.

The judgment creditor does not need to wait until the ten years is about to expire in order to review the judgment. In addition, if the case in which the judgment was entered provided for the recovery of attorney’s fees, the judgment creditor can recover the attorney’s fees incurred in enforcing the judgment as well and add them to the original judgment along with interest and other costs. Finally, unlike some other states, there is no limit to the number of times that a judgment can be renewed in California. Even if the judgment debtor moves out of state, most other states permit the judgment entered in California to be enforced in the new state. Similarly, in California, a judgment entered in another state can be enforced if the judgment debtor moves to California.