Legal Question in International Law in California

If a foreign country court rules against me in a civil suit regarding money, can they enforce their judgement in the U.S. And if so if I have no assets could they enforce this judgement on my spouses assets?


Asked on 3/15/11, 8:27 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

There is a legal process for converting an overseas or out of state judgment into a California state judgment. For judgments from other U.S. states it is pretty much automatic. For overseas judgments it is more complicated and how complicated varies with how closely the country follows U.S. standards of justice and what treaties they are signatories to with us. In general, though, a legitimate money judgment entered in a foreign court can be turned into a California or other state's judgment and enforced as if originally issued here. Whether or not they can enforce it against your spouse's assets depends on whether you have some right to them under community property or other rules of law. If they are completely the spouses sole and separate property, the judgment creditor could not reach them in California. But bear in mind, there are lots of ways that separate property can be commuted to community property or quasi-community property without your intent or even knowledge, as many a person has found out in divorce court.

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Answered on 3/15/11, 9:53 pm


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