Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Re: Bench warrant question??

Leslie, thank you for your inquiry.

Yes, this is a real warrant that you could be arrested on. In the arrest warrant world, it generally takes priority over felony and other criminal warrants, but you want to clear up a warrant as soon as possible, so that you are not held all weekend waiting to see a judge if you are stopped for some other reason.

You should either appear in court yourself, or through an attorney. You can also post bond and surrender yourself to a police agency, but I think appearing yourself or having an attorney appear in court shows responsibility, and will likely make you only have to listen to a lecture and have the examination rescheduled rather than being taken into custody, depending on the demeanor of the judge.

I hope that this information helps, but if you have further questions you need answered, want more information, or feel that you need legal representation, please feel free to email me directly at [email protected]. I�m happy to help in any way that I can.

Re: Bench warrant question??

if this a criminal warrant, as opposed to a civil contempt of court order, 1) you can be arrested until you post bail and get a new court date, and 2) you can do this alone, but if you want to "escape possibly going to jail" per se when you appear to post bail, you should have an attorney and/or bail bonds company go instead of you to post the bail on your behalf and get your new court date. if you would like further assistance, email me with more facts on this particular warrant and how you would prefer handling this matter.

Re: Bench warrant question??

This is a specific procedure used in the enforcement of judgments. The court needs to acquire jurisdiction over you in order to get you to do something, in this case require you to answer questions about your assets. It acquired that jurisidcition when you were served with notice of the debtor's exam, and would have lost it that day if nothing else was done. The issuance of the body attachment (warrant) was the only way to maintain jurisdiction over you.

That being said, this is a real warrant. It could be used to arrest you. As a practical matter, the purpose of the warrant is to get you to come back to Court and get another date set for the debtor's exam.

You should call the Sheriff and tell them that you received the notice, and want to reschedule the examination. They should do so, and give you simple instructions as to how to get the warrant cleared. Generally, you need to go to Court, and set a new date. You should not need to post bail.

If you ignore this, however, the next time you get pulled over for a traffic stop you could find yourself in a whole lot of trouble. So do not ignore it.