(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, if a support obligor is delinquent in the payment of support and the local child support agency is enforcing the support obligation pursuant to Section 17400 or 17402, a lien for child support shall arise against the personal property of the support obligor in either of the following circumstances:

(1) By operation of law for all amounts of overdue support, regardless of whether the amounts have been adjudicated or otherwise determined.

Terms Used In California Family Code 17523

  • Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • obligor: means a person owing a duty of support. See California Family Code 17212
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • Proceeding: includes an action. See California Family Code 110
  • Property: includes real and personal property and any interest therein. See California Family Code 113
  • State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, or a commonwealth, territory, or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See California Family Code 145
  • Support: refers to a support obligation owing on behalf of a child, spouse, or family, or an amount owing pursuant to Section 17402. See California Family Code 150

(2) When either a court having continuing jurisdiction or the local child support agency determines a specific amount of arrearages is owed by the support obligor.

(b) The lien for child support shall be perfected by filing a notice of child support lien with the Secretary of State pursuant to § 697.510 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Once filed, the child support lien shall have the same priority, force, and effect as a judgment lien on personal property pursuant to Article 3 (commencing with Section 697.510) of Chapter 2 of Division 2 of Article 9 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

(c) For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply:

(1) “Notice of child support lien” means a document filed with the Secretary of State that substantially complies with the requirements of § 697.530 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

(2) “Support obligor is delinquent in payment of support” means that the support obligor has failed to make payment equal to one month’s support obligation.

(3) “Personal property” means that property that is subject to attachment by a judgment lien pursuant to § 697.530 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

(d) Nothing in this section shall affect the priority of any of the following interests:

(1) State tax liens as set forth in Article 2 (commencing with Section 7170) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code.

(2) Liens or security interests as set forth in Article 3 (commencing with Section 697.510) of Chapter 2 of Division 2 of Article 9 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

(e) As between competing child support liens and state tax liens, a child support lien arising under this section shall have priority over a state tax lien if (1) the child support lien is filed with the Secretary of State, (2) the notice of child support lien is filed in an action or proceeding in which the obligor may become entitled to property or money judgment, or (3) the levy for child support on personal property is made, before a notice of state tax lien is filed with the Secretary of State pursuant to § 7171 of the Government Code or filed in an action or proceeding in accordance with § 7173 of the Government Code.

(f) A personal property lien for child support arising in another state may be enforced in the same manner and to the same extent as a personal property lien arising in this state.

(Added by Stats. 1999, Ch. 980, Sec. 15. Effective January 1, 2000.)

  Previous section
Next section  
 Article 2 Contents