Debt collectors may not be able to sue you to collect on old (time-barred) debts, but they may still try to collect on those debts. In California, there is generally a four-year limit for filing a lawsuit to collect a debt based on a written agreement.
If the court has your address, the clerk mails you a Notice of Entry of Default. If they sent this, you must file and serve the request to set aside within 180 days from the date you were served that notice.
Most judgments (the court order saying what you're owed) expire in 10 years. This means you can't collect on it after 10 years. To avoid this, you can ask the court to renew it. A renewal lasts 10 years.
Enforcing Your Judgment Get in touch with the judgment debtor. Levy (seize) assets that you have personal knowledge of. Examine judgment debtor in court to locate unknown assets. Suspend the judgment debtor's driver's license if the judgment is for auto accident.
To do this, fill out an EJ-001 Abstract of Judgment form and take it to the clerk's office. After the clerk stamps it, record it at the County Recorder's Office in the county where the property is located. Place a lien on a business.
Write the name and last known address of the judgment debtor in the space provided. You may also include any known aliases used by the judgment debtor. Fill in the last 4 digits of the judgment debtor's driver license number and state where it was issued, if you know them.
A judgment lien expires after 5 years from the date it is recorded but may be rerecorded once for another period of 5 years not less than 120 days before the expiration of the initial judgment.
Riverside Superior Court Local Rule 3116 provides: Unless otherwise specified in the Order to Show Cause, any response in opposition to an Order to Show Case (a) shall be in the form of a written declaration and (b) shall be filed no less than four court days before the hearing on the Order to Show Cause.
Most judgments (the court order saying what you're owed) expire in 10 years. This means you can't collect on it after 10 years. To avoid this, you can ask the court to renew it. A renewal lasts 10 years.