A Sister State Judgment is a Judgment entered in a court that is outside of California. Out-of-State Judgments can be enforced under the California version of the Uniform Enforcement of Sister State Judgments Act.
If you already have a court-issued Judgment from another State that hasn’t been collected and the Debtor or the Debtor’s assets are in California, we know how to enforce that Judgment and get your money. We use all the legal remedies the law allows to collect your money. We move fast and aggressively. The procedure to enforce a Sister State Judgment is quick and easy. You don’t have to re-prove your case. We file an “authenticated” copy of the Sister State Judgment with the California court, serve a notice, and 30 days later we can start efforts at enforcement.
We effectively service clients who have cases between $10,000 and $2,000,000. We are a quality law firm, not a collection agency or a mill operation. We Sue! We don’t send whiny letters and don’t usually even contact the debtors before we start the lawsuit unless required by law. We don’t make repetitive phone calls and have no phone collectors.
Cases involving a Sister-State Judgment have some form of written documentation. This can include the judgment itself or other proof of the judgment. These are the documents that we present for settlement to the court, that win your case. We have a full staff of qualified and experienced Lawyers and Legal Assistants who will use all the legal remedies the law allows to collect your money. We move fast and aggressively.
According to California legislation, the Application for Entry of a Sister State Judgment necessitates an attachment of a “properly authenticated copy” of your Sister State Judgment. A “properly authenticated copy” extends beyond a mere “certified copy”. Various states may refer to it as either “Authenticated” or “Exemplified”. Regardless of the terminology, this authenticated copy can be obtained from the originating court and will include certifications from both the Clerk and the Judge of the Sister State Court.
We offer a choice between contingent fees (a percentage) or hourly fees (charged by the hour). See our FAQ page on which is right for you and how to make the choice. We recover more money, more often than other attorneys or collectors. If you are a contingent fee client and we don’t recover, there is no fee. The out-of-pocket filing fees for the court enforcement documents, motions, hearings, and liens and the fee for the process servers are generally small.
See Our FAQ Page Concerning Costs
If you are owed over $10,000 for a commercial debt, note, sale of goods or services, loan or because you gave someone credit.
If you loaned money or sold goods or services on credit and didn’t get paid, you have a good case for recovery
If you sold your time or products and didn’t get paid, we will pursue rapid collection for you.
If your debt is related to a construction project, other remedies, liens and security can often be pursued.
Do you already have a California Judgment you haven’t collected? We are specialists in judgment enforcement techniques such as
If you have a Court Judgment or Order from a State other than California, it can be enforced against a California Debtor or property
Judgments issued in Foreign Countries against California Debtors or those with property in California can be collected by
If you have an award from an Arbitration that isn’t being paid, we can convert it to a judgment and pursue collection
