Except as otherwise provided by statute:
§ 703.010.Generally
Title 9. Enforcement of Judgments · Division 2 · Chapter 4. Exemptions · Article 1. General Provisions · Enacted 1982 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 28, 2026
In one sentenceSection 703.010 makes the exemptions found in this chapter or any other statute available in every procedure used to enforce a money judgment, except when the judgment being enforced forecloses a mortgage, deed of trust, or other lien or encumbrance that isn't itself a lien created under this division or the attachment title.
Full Text of § 703.010
(a) The exemptions provided by this chapter or by any other statute apply to all procedures for enforcement of a money judgment.
(b) The exemptions provided by this chapter or by any other statute do not apply if the judgment to be enforced is for the foreclosure of a mortgage, deed of trust, or other lien or encumbrance on the property other than a lien created pursuant to this division or pursuant to Title 6.5 (commencing with Section 481.010) (attachment).
Plain-English Summary
Section 703.010 sets the baseline for the whole exemption scheme: whatever exemptions exist under this chapter or any other statute reach every procedure a judgment creditor might use to collect. That includes execution sales, wage garnishment, and every other enforcement device covered elsewhere in this title.
There's one carve-out. When the judgment being enforced forecloses a mortgage, deed of trust, or other lien or encumbrance, the exemptions in this chapter don't apply — unless that lien was itself created under this division (the judgment-enforcement law) or under the attachment title, Title 6.5 beginning with § 481.010. A foreclosing lienholder collecting on the lien itself isn't subject to the debtor's ordinary exemptions the way an ordinary judgment creditor is.
Everything that follows in this chapter — how an exemption gets claimed under § 703.030, when a purported waiver is void under § 703.040, how courts pick which year's exemption statutes apply under § 703.050 — builds on this opening rule that exemptions apply broadly, subject only to this one exception.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do California's judgment-debtor exemptions apply to every kind of enforcement procedure?
Yes. Section 703.010(a) extends the exemptions in this chapter, and in any other statute, to all procedures for enforcing a money judgment.
When don't these exemptions apply?
When the judgment being enforced forecloses a mortgage, deed of trust, or other lien or encumbrance — unless that lien was created under this division or under the attachment title (Title 6.5, commencing with § 481.010).
Does a judgment lien created through the enforcement-of-judgments law count as a foreclosure lien excluded from the exemption?
No. Section 703.010(b) only removes the exemptions for liens outside this division and the attachment title — a lien created under this division doesn't trigger the exception.
Amendment History
Added by Stats. 1982, Ch. 1364, Sec. 2. Operative July 1, 1983, by Sec. 3 of Ch. 1364.
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
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