Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California

Although a judgment declaring you no longer liable for the debt would get you off the debt, you have not said anything that would legally entitle you to one. Cosigning for a loan may just be a favor as between you and the borrower, but as between you and the lender, or you and the credit bureaus,or you and anyone else in the world it's as if you took out the loan yourself. So you don't get to be off the loan just because you don't feel like being responsible for it anymore any differently than if you took out the loan for your own use. You are the borrower. You don't get to just walk away from that. Unless there was some major extenuating circumstance that makes you being treated as a borrower wrong or unfair, such as fraud or duress by the lender, the only way to get off a cosigned loan is pay it off, or you refinance it without consigning the new loan.

When you cosigned on the note, you legally became the a borrower. Legally, it is no different if the lender had written you and your mother a joint check. It doesn't matter who ended up using it...you are both liable.

You haven't provide any facts that would indicate that you are entitled to be released from your liability. Your mom presumably didn't have sufficient credit to buy the car on her own, so you promised to be responsible if she couldn't pay. if you want to get your credit straightened out, you'll probably need to work a deal with the lender and find a way to make sure she pays on time moving forward.

Getting a judgment to relieve you of the debt would also require filing a lawsuit against the lender, so the costs and legal fees would probably exceed the debt. Besides a lawsuit, a refinance, sellign the care or negotiating settlement with the car lender, the only other way to be relieved of the debt is to file for bankruptcy.