Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California

I was just recently served papers from the Ventura County Courthouse in regards to a credit card company that is trying to levy my bank account (which has been closed for several months) and against my social security number. I am currently unemployed and have been for the last 2 years. In this paperwork it gave a list of items that were exempt such as, my vehicle, trust fund, furniture etc and said something about me having to file some sort of exemption form within 10 days. I dont understand the information in the paperwork and I have a couple of questions:

1.) What is this exemption form and where do i get it?

2.) Can they take my truck? (I am a single parent, if that matters.)

3.) The levying officer is a Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff. I reside in Ventura County. Shouldn't the levying officer be from the same county (Ventura County) where they have jurisdiction? Or does that not matter?

4.) Should I or can I file for Bankruptcy?


Asked on 10/07/11, 4:37 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Douglas A. Crowder Crowder Law Center

1. The exemptions are available at http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/ej155.pdf

Or if the link doesn�t work, do a search for California Judicial Council forms and look for form EJ155. The form you need to fill out is EJ156. However, since that bank account is closed, there's no point in doing anything about it.

2. You are entitled to keep up to $2,725 of equity in one motor vehicle. If your truck is worth more than that, the creditor could theoretically take it.

3. Makes no difference.

4. It sounds like you qualify for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. If you don't have anything they can collect from, you may not need to file. But the advantage to filing is that you wouldn't have to worry about the judgment any more.

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Answered on 10/08/11, 10:09 am


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