§ 703.580.Claim and Notice of Opposition Constitute Pleadings; Burden of Proof; Claim Controverted By Notice; Determination of Court

This is the heart of Article 2's procedure — the section that decides whether levied property comes back to the debtor. Subdivision (a) protects the claimant procedurally: filing a claim of exemption, or a creditor filing a notice of opposition, doesn't count as a general appearance under § 1014, and the court's authority over the claimant reaches no further than deciding the exemption itself.

Subdivision (b) puts the burden squarely on the claimant to prove the property is exempt. Subdivision (c) explains how that proof gets tested: the claim of exemption and the notice of opposition automatically controvert each other, and both come into evidence. If neither side offers anything more, the court can rule on the strength of those two sworn documents alone — including the financial statement, if one was required — so long as the court is satisfied they show enough. When the claim asserts that deposit-account money is necessary for the family's support under § 704.225, the court has to review the financial statement specifically and make findings on it. If the court isn't satisfied by the papers, it can continue the hearing to let either side bring in more evidence.

Subdivision (d) is where the practical stakes show up. The court's order determining whether the property is exempt, in whole or in part, decides — subject to appeal under § 703.600 — whether the creditor can apply the property to the judgment. But for a judgment on a personal debt, as § 683.110(d) defines it, the statute goes further: the court must order the return of property that was already exempt without any claim if it was levied within the preceding twelve months, and must order the return of property the debtor has shown would have qualified for exemption by claim if it was levied within the preceding six months — in both cases without limiting a judge's separate authority to order the return of older property for good cause. Whenever property turns out exempt, whether automatically or by claim, the court orders whoever holds it — the levying officer, the creditor, or anyone else — to return it to the debtor, with the levying officer given 20 business days from notice of the order and the creditor given 10 business days from entry of the order to do so.

Subdivision (e) has the clerk send a certified copy of the order to the levying officer, who then releases the property or applies it to the judgment, subject to § 703.610's rules on disposing of property while an appeal is pending. Subdivision (f) closes the loop if nobody acts fast enough: unless the court orders otherwise, the property gets released if the exemption isn't decided within the time § 703.570 allows for the hearing. Because an order returning property under subdivision (d) can effectively undo a satisfaction the creditor already recorded, a creditor who released a judgment lien believing the debt was paid can later ask the court to reinstate that lien's original priority under §§ 697.420 and 697.680, once the returned property or wages have gone back to the debtor.