SC 200 INFO What To Do After The Court Decides Your Small Claims Case (Small Claims) Sc200info
User Manual: SC-200
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First, read the court's decisions on Form SC-200, Notice of Entry of Judgment. It will tell you the court’s judgment in this
case. Then read this form. It will help you protect or enforce your rights, whether you won or lost the case.
If the court ordered you to pay money…
Pay the judgment creditor directly.
Ask the court to let you make payments. (To do this,
file Form SC-220, Request to Make Payments.)
SC-200-INFO What to Do After the Court Decides Your Small Claims Case
Warning! You may lose important rights if you do not act within 30 days after the court handed or mailed you
Form SC-200, Notice of Entry of Judgment. If the court mailed the Notice of Entry of Judgment, the date of
mailing is on the Clerk's Certificate of Mailing that came with the notice.
If the court did not award you any money on a claim that you filed… The court’s decision on your
claim is normally final. You cannot appeal the decision on your own claim, but you may be allowed to ask the court to
correct a mistake in the judgment.
Warning! If you do not pay the judgment or file an
appeal or a motion to vacate (cancel) or correct the
judgment within 30 days after the Notice of Entry of
Judgment was handed or mailed to you, your wages,
money, and property can be taken to pay the claim.
You may also have to pay interest. If your case involves
an auto accident on a California highway, the Depart-
ment of Motor Vehicles (DMV) can suspend your
driver's license.
You are the judgment debtor. The law requires you to
pay the judgment. You can:
Pay the court. (To do this, file Form SC-145,
Request to Pay Judgment to Court.) Or
After you pay the judgment in full, you can ask the
judgment creditor to file a form saying the judgment is
paid. (See Form SC-290, Acknowledgment of Satis-
faction of Judgment.) If the judgment creditor does not
do this, he or she may have to pay you damages and a
penalty.
If you disagree with the judgment ordering you to
pay money and you went to the small claims trial,
you can appeal that decision. (You cannot appeal the
decision on your own claim.) To do this, file Form
SC-140, Notice of Appeal, within 30 days after the
Notice of Entry of Judgment was handed or mailed to
you. There will be a new trial in the superior court on all
claims in the case. Each side will present evidence
again. This time, each side can have a lawyer at the
trial.
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If the court ordered the other side to pay you…
Important! The judgment debtor has 30 days after the
Notice of Entry of Judgment was handed or mailed to him
or her to appeal or pay or ask the court to cancel or correct
the judgment. You cannot take legal steps to collect the
judgment during this time.
You are the judgment creditor. You must collect your
judgment. The court will not collect it for you. Some steps
you can take to collect your money are summarized below.
For more information, go to www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp
/smallclaims/collectintro.htm.
Ask the judgment debtor to pay you the money. If the
judgment debtor cannot afford to pay the judgment all at
once, consider offering to take payments. If your claim was
for possession of property, ask the judgment debtor to
return the property to you.
If the judgment debtor does not pay, you can find out
about the debtor's income or property that the sheriff
can take to satisfy the judgment.
If the debtor does not pay within 30 days after the court
clerk delivered or mailed the Notice of Entry of Judgment,
the debtor must send you Form SC-133, Judgment
Debtor's Statement of Assets. This form will tell you what
property the debtor has that may be used to pay the
judgment.
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If the debtor does not send you the completed Form
SC-133, you can file Form SC-134, Application and Order
to Produce Statement of Assets and to Appear for
Examination. In this form, you can also ask the court to
award you your attorney fees, expenses, and other
appropriate relief.
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If the debtor does send you Form SC-133, you can
still have the debtor come to court to answer
questions about income and property. To do this, file
Form EJ-125, Application and Order for Appearance and
Examination.
•
If any payment is not made in full and on time, the
judgment creditor may notify the court to cancel the
payment plan and the entire unpaid balance will
become due and collectible.
SC-200, Page 1 of 2
Judicial Council of California, www.courtinfo.ca.gov
New July 1, 2010, Optional Form What to Do After the Court
Decides Your Small Claims Case
(Small Claims)
Need help?
For free help, contact your county’s small claims advisor:
[local info here]
Or go to “County-Specific Court Information” at www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp/smallclaims
If the court ordered you to pay money…
(continued)
*Exception: If the claim against you was not
properly served, you have 180 days from the date
that you found out (or should have found out) about
the judgment against you to file a request to cancel
the judgment.
If the court ordered the other side to pay you…
(continued)
Once you know about the judgment debtor's income
and property, you can ask the sheriff to take that property
to pay you. (Property that may be taken includes wages,
bank accounts, automobiles, business property, and rental
income.) To do this, fill out and ask the court clerk to issue
Form EJ-130, Writ of Execution. Then, take the form to the
sheriff's office with a description of the debtor's property.
You can also put a lien on the judgment debtor's house
or other real estate. To do this, fill out and ask the court
clerk to issue Form EJ-001, Abstract of Judgment—Civil
and Small Claims. Then, take or mail the Abstract to the
county recorder's office in the county where you think the
debtor owns real property. If the judgment debtor sells,
refinances, or buys real property in that county, your
judgment should be paid from the debtor's funds.
After the judgment has been paid in full, you must fill out
an Acknowledgment of Satisfaction of Judgment and file it
with the court clerk. If an Abstract of Judgment has not
been recorded, you may use Form SC-290. If an abstract
has been recorded, use Form EJ-100.
Warning! If you do not file an Acknowledgment of
Satisfaction of Judgment, you may have to pay the
judgment debtor damages and a penalty.
You may need to pay fees to the court, the county recorder's office, or the
sheriff for filing, issuing, and recording papers and doing the other things
discussed above. Sometimes, you can ask the court to order the other side
to repay you for these expenses.
Unless you pay the judgment or file an appeal or
a motion as discussed above, you must complete
Form SC-133, Judgment Debtor's Statement of
Assets, and deliver it to the judgment creditor within
30 days after the clerk delivered or mailed the
Notice of Entry of Judgment.
If you disagree with the judgment ordering you
to pay money, and you did not go to the trial,
you can ask the court to vacate (cancel) the
judgment. To do this, file Form SC-135, Notice of
Motion to Vacate Judgment, within 30 days* after
the Notice of Entry of Judgment and Declaration
was handed or mailed to you. If the court denies
your request, you have until 10 days from the date
the notice of denial is mailed to file an appeal.
New July 1, 2010 SC-200-INFO. Page 2 of 2
To obtain the judgment debtor’s financial records from
another person or a company at a hearing, fill out Form
SC-107, Small Claims Subpoena and Declaration, take it
to the small claims court clerk to be issued, and then
have it served.
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Warning! If you do not deliver the completed Form
SC-133, the court can order you to pay attorney
fees and impose other penalties.
What to Do After the Court
Decides Your Small Claims Case
(Small Claims)
