Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
Court Settlement
I have a settlement reached in mediation with the Superior Court of LA. What happens if the defendant defaults on the settlement and moves out of state to avoid paying and if so what is my legal recourse and how do I go about executing such?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Court Settlement
You can go into court to enforce the settlement under CCP 664.6 if it is contained in your settlement agreement. Most people do have that clause in a settlement if it was worked out by a court ordered mediator who would be familiar with the process. You can then take the judgement and enforce in CA if there are assets, or get a sister state judgment in the other state.
Re: Court Settlement
Here is what you need to do:
1) Get the settlement turned into a judgment. There should be some expedited method of obtaining a judgment in the event of a default built into the settlement agreement.
2) Once you have the judgment, take it to the state where the debtor is now located and have it registered there.
3) Enforce the judgment in that state.
There are a couple of exceptions. If the debtor has property (especially real property) in California you can go after that . If this is a child support judgment you can enforce it nationally.
Feel free to email for a more detailed answer. I do a lot of collection work.
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