(a) Notwithstanding the transfer or encumbrance of property subject to a lien created under this division, if the property remains subject to the lien after the transfer or encumbrance, the money judgment may be enforced against the property in the same manner and to the same extent as if it had not been transferred or encumbered.
§ 695.070.Property Subject to Lien After Transfer Or Encumbrance
Title 9. Enforcement of Judgments · Division 2 · Chapter 1. General Provisions · Article 1. Property Subject to Enforcement of Money Judgment · Last amended 1989 · Last verified July 28, 2026
In one sentenceSection 695.070 lets a judgment creditor enforce the judgment against property that was transferred or encumbered after a lien attached to it, so long as the property remains subject to that lien despite the transfer, and preserves this enforcement right against the property even after the judgment debtor dies.
Full Text of § 695.070
(b) If the judgment debtor dies after the transfer of property that remains subject to a lien created under this division, the money judgment may be enforced against the property as provided in subdivision (a).
Plain-English Summary
A lien created under this division doesn't disappear just because the debtor sells or mortgages the encumbered property afterward. Section 695.070(a) confirms that when property remains subject to a lien despite being transferred or encumbered, the creditor can enforce the money judgment against that property the same way, and to the same extent, as if no transfer or encumbrance had happened.
Subdivision (b) extends that same rule past the debtor's death. If the judgment debtor dies after transferring property that's still subject to the lien, the money judgment can still be enforced against the property, exactly as subdivision (a) allows while the debtor was alive.
This section works together with the lien-specific rules elsewhere in this division -- for example, § 697.390's treatment of a transferred or encumbered interest under a judgment lien on real property -- to make sure a lien's practical value survives ordinary transactions in the property it attaches to.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does selling property defeat a judgment lien attached to it?
Not by itself. Section 695.070(a) lets the creditor still enforce the judgment against the property if it remains subject to the lien despite the transfer or encumbrance.
What happens if the judgment debtor dies after transferring lien-encumbered property?
Section 695.070(b) preserves the creditor's right to enforce the judgment against that property just as it could have been enforced before the debtor's death.
Amendment History
Amended by Stats. 1989, Ch. 1416, Sec. 22.
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
the Deering's California Codes Annotated / vLex. Enacted by the California Legislature.
Last verified July 28, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: judgment lien survives transfer of property californiaenforcing lien after debtor dies california