§ 688.050.Date of Creation of Tax Lien

Knowing exactly when a lien attached to specific property can decide which exemptions apply or how competing claims rank, and § 688.050 supplies that date for state tax liens. It applies specifically for purposes of § 694.080's rule on exemptions and prior liens, and §§ 703.050 and 703.100's provisions elsewhere in the exemption scheme.

Three possible triggering events compete for the earliest date. A notice of state tax lien might be recorded or filed under Chapter 14 (commencing with § 7150) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code. The property might instead first become subject to a lien when it is levied upon under a warrant, notice of levy, or notice to withhold. Or some other act might create or perfect a lien on that specific property — as opposed to a general lien reaching the debtor's property as a whole. Whichever of these three happens first sets the lien-creation date.

That earliest-in-time rule matters most where it intersects with § 694.080: property already subject to a lien before the Enforcement of Judgments Law's 1983 operative date is governed by the exemption law in effect when the lien was created, not by the newer exemption scheme.