§ 116.850.Full or partial payment of judgment

Section 116.850(a) puts the burden of paperwork on the creditor once payment is made in full: immediately upon receiving full payment from the debtor or the debtor’s assignee of record, the creditor must file an acknowledgment of satisfaction of judgment with the clerk. Subdivision (b) backs that duty with a penalty — a creditor who receives full payment and a written demand from the debtor, but fails without good cause to file that acknowledgment within 14 days of the request, is liable to the debtor (or the debtor’s grantees or heirs) for all resulting damages, plus a flat $50.

Subdivision (c) gives a debtor a way around a nonresponsive or unreachable creditor: the clerk will enter satisfaction of judgment at the debtor’s request if the debtor establishes a rebuttable presumption of full payment, or of partial payment combined with compliance with § 116.860(c), under subdivision (d). That presumption requires two things filed together: proof of payment — a canceled check, money order, or signed cash receipt made out after judgment and payable to or endorsed by the creditor — and a declaration confirming payment was made, that the creditor was asked to acknowledge satisfaction and refused (or could not be located), and that the attached documents evidence that payment.