California Consumer Notices

In post-judgment discovery situations, to attempt to find your judgment debtor's assets; in the majority of states one may calendar a judgment debtor examination at the court, and then subpoena documents from 3rd-parties. When a debtor is a person, within some states; their personal info is known as a consumer record, when that information is requested with your served subpoena on a third-party bank, employer, utility company, school, attorney, accountant, dentist, etc.

This article is my opinion and is not, a legal opinion. I'm the judgment matchmaking expert, and not an attorney. When you want a strategy to use or legal advice, you should retain a lawyer.

Within certain states, for example California and perhaps Indiana; before a third-party may share any of your judgment debtor's personal info, they must see verification that the judgment debtor got served a "notice to consumer", included in your subpoena package served on them. While Federal courts, and most states, don't now mandate notices to the consumer before serving a subpoena on 3rd-party witnesses; this might change some day soon, to increase the usage of consumer notices.

In California, the laws related to consumer notices (e.g., Code of Civil Procedure 1985.6 and CCP 1958.3), are sometimes judgment debtor-friendly because they let any individual or company/partnership having less than 5 people; enjoy even more advance notice that the judgment owner is asking questions concurring their financials, perhaps giving the debtor additional time to hide or transfer their assets. Of course, if you already know where the debtor works or banks, one could avoid tipping them off, and just begin a garnishment procedure with your Sheriff.

Notices to the consumer slow creditors down. In places that require such notices, before 3rd-parties can disclose any kind of personal debtor information, the creditor's consumer notice is served first on the debtor. The law in California says you must wait five days if your notice (SUBP-025, which is a Judicial Council Form) was personally served, and 10 days when the service got done by mail. After the waiting period, you add your notice and the proof of service for it, with the subpoena package which is served on the third-party witness. In California, a witness are entitled to witness fees as per California Evidence Code 1563; so include your check made out to that 3rd-party with your subpoena package which you give to the registered process server.

At places which mandate notices to the consumer, most of them give third-parties twenty days to provide the specific info identified within the subpoena served on them, which includes your proof of service of the consumer notice. While subpoenas may get mailed to 3rd-party witnesses (within California there is CCP 2020.410), serving them by first class mail allows them five extra days in which to produce records. And, if subpoenas are not served personally served, there is no possible recourse when someone ignores your mailed subpoena.

If a subpoena that is served personally gets ignored by a third-party witness, or you do not get anything except for a non-court filed objection you'll most likely have to sue the witness to get the information. In California, that is either defined in CCP 1992, or perhaps you will have to file a motion in court to compel (force) the witness to show up and provide those subpoenaed documents.

Federal judgments in Federal courts (and all bankruptcy courts, where subpoenas get governed with FRCP 9016 and FRCP 45), it appears there is no laws requiring a notice to consumer to be sent. In spite of this, in a couple of Federal court judgment recovery cases in California, a debtor's attorney has argued that Code of Civil Procedure 1958.3 and the requirement to serve the consumer notice first; and several times, a Federal court judge in California has decided in favor of with that requirement, and that doesn't make much sense to me, because Federal law generally outranks state law.

When one owns a Federal judgment, or inside the states which have no subpoena-related consumer notice laws, that also means there is isn't any waiting period when you choose to include this kind of a consumer notice anyway. Even if not required by law, it may sometimes end of being a good idea to include a consumer notice within the judgment debtor exam subpoena package served upon your judgment debtor.

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