Section 17523 Of Article 2. Collections And Enforcement From California Family Law Code >> Division 17. >> Chapter 2. >> Article 2.
17523
. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, if a support
obligor is delinquent in the payment of support and the local child
support agency is enforcing the support obligation pursuant to
Section 17400 or 17402, a lien for child support shall arise against
the personal property of the support obligor in either of the
following circumstances:
(1) By operation of law for all amounts of overdue support,
regardless of whether the amounts have been adjudicated or otherwise
determined.
(2) When either a court having continuing jurisdiction or the
local child support agency determines a specific amount of arrearages
is owed by the support obligor.
(b) The lien for child support shall be perfected by filing a
notice of child support lien with the Secretary of State pursuant to
Section 697.510 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Once filed, the child
support lien shall have the same priority, force, and effect as a
judgment lien on personal property pursuant to Article 3 (commencing
with Section 697.510) of Chapter 2 of Division 2 of Article 9 of the
Code of Civil Procedure.
(c) For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall
apply:
(1) "Notice of child support lien" means a document filed with the
Secretary of State that substantially complies with the requirements
of Section 697.530 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
(2) "Support obligor is delinquent in payment of support" means
that the support obligor has failed to make payment equal to one
month's support obligation.
(3) "Personal property" means that property that is subject to
attachment by a judgment lien pursuant to Section 697.530 of the Code
of Civil Procedure.
(d) Nothing in this section shall affect the priority of any of
the following interests:
(1) State tax liens as set forth in Article 2 (commencing with
Section 7170) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code.
(2) Liens or security interests as set forth in Article 3
(commencing with Section 697.510) of Chapter 2 of Division 2 of
Article 9 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
(e) As between competing child support liens and state tax liens,
a child support lien arising under this section shall have priority
over a state tax lien if (1) the child support lien is filed with the
Secretary of State, (2) the notice of child support lien is filed in
an action or proceeding in which the obligor may become entitled to
property or money judgment, or (3) the levy for child support on
personal property is made, before a notice of state tax lien is filed
with the Secretary of State pursuant to Section 7171 of the
Government Code or filed in an action or proceeding in accordance
with Section 7173 of the Government Code.
(f) A personal property lien for child support arising in another
state may be enforced in the same manner and to the same extent as a
personal property lien arising in this state.