There is no right to a jury trial in an action under this article.
§ 708.270.No Right to Jury Trial
Title 9. Enforcement of Judgments · Division 2 · Chapter 6. Miscellaneous Creditors' Remedies · Article 3. Creditor's Suit · Enacted 1982 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 28, 2026
In one sentenceSection 708.270 provides that there is no right to a jury trial in a creditor's suit action brought under this article.
Full Text of § 708.270
Plain-English Summary
This is a short but important rule for anyone weighing whether to fight a creditor's suit: the case is tried to the court, not a jury. Whatever factual disputes the action raises about who owns the property or whether the debt is really owed, a judge decides them.
That fits the broader shape of this article's remedy. A creditor's suit exists to sort out enforcement questions that couldn't be resolved summarily inside an examination proceeding under § 708.180, and this section keeps that resolution in the same kind of forum — a bench trial — that the rest of the judgment-enforcement process runs through.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a creditor's suit under this article tried before a jury?
No. Section 708.270 provides that there is no right to a jury trial in this kind of action.
Who decides the factual disputes in a creditor's suit if there's no jury?
A judge, sitting without a jury, decides both the facts and the law in a creditor's suit action.
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
Also known as: jury trial creditor's suit california