(a) The determination whether property is exempt or the amount of an exemption shall be made by application of the exemption statutes in effect (1) at the time the judgment creditor's lien on the property was created or (2) if the judgment creditor's lien on the property is the latest in a series of overlapping liens created when an earlier lien on the property in favor of the judgment creditor was in effect, at the time the earliest lien in the series of overlapping liens was created.
§ 703.050.Determination Whether Property Exempt Or Amount of Exemption
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 703.050 pins the exemption rules for a given piece of property to the law in effect when the judgment creditor's lien attached — or the earliest lien in a chain of overlapping liens for the same creditor — regardless of when the judgment arose or was entered, though execution-levy procedures follow the law in effect when the levy is made.
Full Text of § 703.050
(b) This section applies to all judgments, whether based upon tort, contract, or other legal theory or cause of action that arose before or after the operative date of this section, and whether the judgment was entered before or after the operative date of this section.
(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), in the case of a levy of execution, the procedures to be followed in levying upon, selling, or releasing property, claiming, processing, opposing, and determining exemptions, and paying exemption proceeds, shall be governed by the law in effect at the time the levy of execution is made on the property.
Plain-English Summary
Exemption law changes over time, so this section decides which version applies to any given dispute. The general rule in subdivision (a) looks to when the judgment creditor's lien on the property was created — or, if that lien is the latest in a run of overlapping liens the same creditor has held on the same property, to when the earliest lien in that chain was created.
Subdivision (b) makes clear this rule reaches every judgment, no matter the legal theory behind it and no matter whether the claim arose, or the judgment was entered, before or after this section took effect. That breadth ties into § 703.060's declaration that the state reserves the right to change exemption rules for existing judgments.
Subdivision (c) carves out one practical exception. For an execution levy specifically, the mechanics — levying, selling, releasing property, and processing exemption claims and proceeds — follow whatever law is in effect at the time of the levy, not the law in effect when the lien was created. The substantive question of what's exempt looks back to the lien date; the procedural question of how a levy gets carried out looks to the levy date.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which version of the exemption law applies to a debtor's property?
Generally, the law in effect when the judgment creditor's lien on that property was created, or, for a chain of overlapping liens held by the same creditor, when the earliest lien in that chain was created.
Does it matter when the judgment was entered or when the claim arose?
No. Section 703.050(b) applies this rule to every judgment regardless of the underlying legal theory and regardless of when the claim arose or the judgment was entered.
What law governs the mechanics of an execution levy itself?
The law in effect at the time the levy is made, under § 703.050(c) — a different question from which exemption amounts apply to the property.
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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