The Judgment Is Not the Money: Enforcement, Charging Orders, and the Renewal Clock

The first hour addresses the practical framework for evaluating and enforcing a California money judgment. The presentation covers reviewing the judgment for enforceability, renewal deadlines, and lien issues; identifying and profiling individual and business judgment debtors; conducting public-record and asset investigations; establishing judgment liens and protecting priority; and using available enforcement remedies to reach cash, income, receivables, business interests, and other assets. The hour also addresses judgment debtor and third-party examinations, exemptions, cost considerations, and the sequencing of multiple remedies as part of a coordinated enforcement strategy.

The second hour addresses more advanced enforcement issues that arise when ordinary collection remedies are unsuccessful or when assets have been transferred, concealed, or placed behind related persons or entities. The presentation covers California’s Uniform Voidable Transactions Act, including actual-intent and constructive-transfer theories and available remedies against transferred assets and transferees. It also addresses alter ego liability, reverse veil piercing under Curci Investments, LLC v. Baldwin, and the use of Code of Civil Procedure section 187 to add alter ego judgment debtors. The hour concludes with a discussion of how to distinguish among UVTA, alter ego, reverse piercing, and ordinary enforcement remedies, and how to select the appropriate theory and procedural vehicle based on the facts of the case.