Judgment Domestication, or the “Sister State Judgment” process as it is called in California, is the process whereby a on out-of-state creditor who holds a judgment against a debtor transfers the judgment to the State where the Debtor is, in order to enforce the judgment.
Judgments must be enforced under the laws of the State where the debtor resides, which means a judgment from a different state must be domesticated or “Sister Stated” into the State where the Debtor is (or where the debtor’s assets are), in order to be enforced.
Even if a judgment is likely unenforceable, it may be a good idea to domesticate the judgment to the debtors state, in order to obtain liens on property of the debtor in the state, and to establish lien priority over possible later creditors, or in the event of a debtor bankruptcy.
The fact that judgments must be enforced under the laws of the State where the debtor is located causes much inconvenience and frustration on the part of out-of-state creditors, whose debtors flee their home-state after the judgment. If your debtor has moved to California, our law firm can help, at a very competitive price.
Because of our ability to skip-trace debtors anywhere in the State of California, and our relationship with process servers throughout the state, our firm is uniquely situated to provide some of the best and most cost-effective judgment domestication service available.
For one very reasonable flat fee, we will do the following:
- Track down the debtor anywhere in the State of California
- Draft and file the Sister State Judgment papers with the appropriate Court, and enter the Sister State Judgment
- Personally serve the papers on the debtor as required by law
- Issue an abstract of judgment, and record it as a real estate lien on all real estate of the debtor in the County where the debtor resides
- Issue a Judgment Lien form and record it with the Secretary of State of CA, to put a lien on personal property of the debtor in the State of California
- Evaluate the case for further collection potential, and prepare a memorandum for the creditor discussing the issues regarding the collection
All of the above is done on a cost-effective flat fee basis.
Call us at 213-404-1002.
