Using Assignment Orders

I am not an attorney, I am a Judgment and Collections Broker. This article is my opinion, from my experience in California, and laws are different in every state. If you want legal advice or a strategy to use, please contact a lawyer.

What if your debtor doesn't have a typical wage job, and gets paid by customers, relatives, tenants or renters, or almost anyone else?

Assignment orders could be the right (although document intensive) method to try to pay off a judgment. This article covers California assignment orders. It is extremely important to learn your state laws, and how and if assignment orders are permitted.

Assignment orders are (noticed motion) court orders that require a new hearing, and need to get served on the other parties. Assignment orders may be able to capture most types of (current and future) non-wage income streams.

Because an assignment order is a lawful alternative to a conventional levy, one does not (in California) need to get a writ of execution. Different from regular levies, the money often gets turned over directly to you.

In some places, the court may insist that the sheriff be the levying officer. If that is the case, you'll need to get a registered process server open a sheriff levy file, and then have the assignment order served on the parties, and then file the proofs of service with the sheriff.

An assignment order can capture most commissions, distributions, and nearly any kind of K-1 income. If approved by a court, an assignment orders instruct someone who owes money to your judgment debtor, to pay you instead of the judgment debtor.

An assignment order is most useful when a debtor receives (non-retirement-based and non-exempt) income. An assignment order may work, even if the debtor claims they are poor, because income is income. (Most truly poor judgment debtors don't have streams of income.)

Assignment orders can last as long as it takes to repay the judgment. Similar to many judgments and court orders, there is no guarantee. The judgment debtor could go bankrupt. Other events could happen to thwart any enforcement action or strategy.

In theory, assignment orders for non-exempt income, can ask for all of the income, not just 25% of the income, as most wage levies (garnishments) can take.

When the judgment is small, or the debtor is rich, request 50-100%. If the judge does not think your proposed order is reasonable, compromise and shoot for 25%. (Because CCP 708.510-f seems to be very similar to CCP 706.050.)

If a debtor isn't wealthy, it may be smarter to request a percentage, instead of all of their income stream. In judgment recovery, being too aggressive could increase the chances of the judgment debtor will file for bankruptcy protection.

Usually, judges will not rubber-stamp endorsements on assignment orders for creditors. When the creditor clearly shows a summary on the reasons why an assignment order is appropriate, then a judge might permit their proposed order.

One could document why you have no other reasonable way to enforce the judgment. You can also document any prior court-endorsed expenses and attempts that didn't satisfy the judgment.

Assignment orders can also be used to attach funds originating from other judgments, when your judgment debtor is the creditor. Assignment orders can order the judgment debtor of your judgment debtor to pay you rather than them (or the sheriff). Again, consider requesting a percentage.

A first action for any assignment orders is knowing who is paying the judgment debtor. A judgment debtor exam, could subpoena sufficient debtor information and documentation, to know who to serve assignment orders to. Some debtors will pay, when their clients contact them, and ask what's going on.

An assignment order can be general, and not list specific names. They can say "25% of all monies due to the judgment debtor from clients he performs engineering services for". Then, you can serve the assignment order on whoever pays the judgment debtor, including any of their additional clients you later discover, after the assignment order is issued.

Another general example would be "The renter residing at 22 Second Drive will pay you". This way, if the renter moves and a new person moves in, you can have the same assignment order served on the new renter. If a judge will not allow a generic order, one can find out who is renting, some legal way or another.

Sometimes, after being served an assignment order, the 3rd parties still pay the debtor instead of you. Even when they mistakenly pay the judgment debtor, they still owe you the payment.

It's good practice to buy certified copies of the assignment order, to quickly serve on parties and/or their lawyers, so they cannot claim they did not believe it to be real.

As with most court hearings - on assignment orders; obeying state laws, court rules, and a big paperwork bundle is required.

Often, 5-6 parts (usually in 5-6 documents) are required. For example, an Assignment Order, (an optional) Restraining Order, a Memorandum of Points and Authorities, a Notice of Motion, Motion (or Entry of Order), and Proofs Of Service, that must be filed with the court.

The Motion (Order) and the Notice of Motion (Entry of Order) are sometimes merged into 1 document. One need to make several copies of all documents, schedule a hearing date at the court, and have the judgment debtor served everything.

California law, CCP 708.510 specifies the debtor may be served by mail. Bring the proof of service to the court, and show up on the court date.

When your order is granted, serve a copy of the order on the debtor by mail, and the parties that will be paying you by mail first. If they don't respond, contact them politely, and if necessary, have them re-served personally.

Please consult with a lawyer when you do your first assignment order.


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