§ 701.820.Duty of Levying Officer After Sale

Collecting the money is only half the job; getting it to the right people is the other half, and § 701.820 puts a clock on that. Promptly after a sale or collection, the officer either distributes the proceeds to the people entitled to them or, when § 701.830 applies because of conflicting claims, deposits the proceeds with the court instead. Ordinarily, payment has to happen within thirty days after the officer receives the proceeds; if proceeds trickle in over time, the officer can accumulate them across a thirty-day window and pay out within ten days after that window closes. A check or other noncash payment doesn't count as received until it has been honored.

If the officer misses that deadline, a person owed money can file a written demand, in person or by certified mail. If the officer still doesn't pay within ten days of that demand, Government Code § 26680 — the statute allowing relief against a public officer who withholds money owed — comes into play. A judgment creditor can then file an ex parte application for an order to show cause, with a hearing set twenty to thirty days out; if the officer pays everything due at least ten days before that hearing, the creditor notifies the court and the hearing gets vacated.

The ex parte application itself has to lay out the dates and manner of the writ's delivery to the officer, the proceeds' remittance to the officer, and the earlier ten-day demand. And if the court finds the application's factual claims knowingly false or made in bad faith, it can award the officer costs and reasonable attorney's fees.