They have income you can't reach with a wage garnishment - rental income, royalties, commissions, business distributions. An assignment order redirects those payment streams directly to you, without lifting a finger every month.
An assignment order under CCP 708.510 is a court order that assigns the debtor's right to receive future payments directly to you, the judgment creditor. Instead of the debtor receiving the money and you chasing it, the payer sends the money straight to you.
Think of it as automatic income redirection. The court orders that anyone who owes money to your judgment debtor must pay you instead. This is different from a wage garnishment - assignment orders reach income that wage levies can't touch.
Once you have an assignment order in place, payments flow to you automatically. The debtor's tenant pays you rent every month. The debtor's publisher sends royalty checks to you. You're not chasing payments - they come to you.
Assignment orders work for any right to payment that the debtor has. Here are the most common targets:
Through debtor examination or investigation, identify specific income streams and who owes the debtor money.
File motion for assignment order under CCP 708.510 with declaration describing the income to be assigned.
Serve the motion on the judgment debtor and any third parties who will be ordered to pay you.
Attend hearing where court balances your right to collect against reasonableness. Order usually granted.
Under CCP 708.510(c), the court will consider:
Assignment orders are a recognized, legitimate collection tool. Courts routinely grant them when the creditor shows the debtor has income streams that can satisfy the judgment. The burden is on the debtor to show why the assignment would be unreasonable.
Once you have the assignment order, you need to serve it on the third parties who owe money to the debtor. This is what makes the payments flow to you.
Once served, the third party is legally obligated to pay you instead of the debtor. Under CCP 708.510(d), any payment to the debtor after service doesn't satisfy the third party's obligation - they'll owe the money twice.
A third party who continues paying the debtor after being served with the assignment order faces serious consequences. They're personally liable to you for those amounts, plus potential contempt sanctions. Make sure they understand this when you serve them.
When serving the assignment order, include a cover letter with clear instructions: where to send payments, your contact information, and a reminder of the consequences of paying the debtor instead. Make compliance easy.
Wage garnishments (CCP 706.010) are specifically for employer-employee wages and have statutory exemption limits (75% of wages are protected). Assignment orders reach other types of income - rental income, business distributions, royalties - that aren't covered by wage garnishment procedures. Assignment orders also don't have automatic exemption percentages.
Potentially, yes. Unlike wages, rental income doesn't have automatic exemption percentages. The court will consider the debtor's reasonable needs, but if the debtor has other income or the rental is purely investment income, you may get 100% assigned. The debtor must object and prove hardship; it's not automatic.
First in time, first in right. The first creditor to obtain and serve an assignment order has priority. Other creditors can get orders covering any excess. If there are competing liens, the court may prorate payments among creditors. Get your assignment order served quickly.
Until the judgment is satisfied, the judgment expires (10 years, renewable), or the court modifies or terminates the order. You don't need to renew the assignment order periodically. It remains in effect automatically until one of those events occurs.
Yes. The debtor can file a motion to modify or terminate the assignment order based on changed circumstances. If they can show the assignment is causing undue hardship or that they have a legitimate need for the income, the court may reduce the assignment percentage. But the burden is on them to prove it.
Self-employment income is trickier because the debtor controls when and how they pay themselves. You can assign accounts receivable (money owed to the debtor's business by clients), but you can't directly assign the debtor's labor. A combination of assignment orders for receivables and wage garnishments from business entities may be needed.
I obtain assignment orders to redirect rental income, business distributions, royalties, and other payment streams directly to my clients. Automatic monthly payments without repeated collection efforts.