BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2126
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 26, 2006
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Judy Chu, Chair
AB 2126 (Lieu) - As Amended: April 20, 2006
Policy Committee: JudiciaryVote:9-0
(Consent)
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill stipulates that family law monetary and property
judgments are enforceable until paid in full and do not require
renewal. Specifically, this bill:
1)Stipulates that a money judgment or judgment for possession or
sale of property that is made or entered under the Family
Code, including a judgment for child, family, or spousal
support, is enforceable until paid in full or otherwise
satisfied.
2)Exempts a money judgment or judgment for possession or sale of
property that is made or entered under the Family Code from
any requirement that a judgment be renewed, and establishes
that a failure to renew a judgment has no effect on
enforceability.
3)Requires the Judicial Council, by January 1, 2008, to develop
and make available on its self-help website, materials that
include a description of the remedies available for
enforcement of judgments under the Family Code and practical
advice on how to avoid disputes relating to the enforcement of
a support obligation.
FISCAL EFFECT
Minor absorbable costs for the Judicial Council to develop and
AB 2126
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post additional materials on its self-help website.
COMMENTS
Purpose . According to the author's office, this bill was
proposed by the California Law Revision Commission (CLRC) to
help avoid the inequity that can result from significantly
different enforcement rights applying to similar judgments under
the Family Code. For example, if a marital property division
order awards the house to the husband, but requires that he pay
half of its value to the wife, the parties probably do not
expect that their rights under that order are subject to
significantly different enforcement periods. However, under
current law, the judgment regarding the husband's property would
be enforceable for 10 years while the judgment regarding the
monetary payment to the wife would be enforceable until it was
paid in full. The CLRC, after studying this issue, concluded
that a single rule for all Family Code judgments would be
significantly less confusing than the three different
enforcement periods that exist in current law for support,
property and non-support monetary awards.
This bill also requires the Judicial Council to prepare
self-help instructional materials relating to the enforcement of
Family Code judgments and make them available on its website.
According to CLRC, 67% of marital dissolution cases involve
unrepresented parties. Consequently, such material is crucial to
assisting these unrepresented parties navigate the legal system.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081