A levy is a legal seizure of property to satisfy a judgment against a debtor/defendant.
Every levy enforcement request must have a valid writ whether it is Prejudgment or Post judgment. Writs are issued by the court clerk and directed to the Sheriff of the county the levy will be executed.
The Fresno County Sheriff Civil Unit is a disinterested neutral third party. We do not advise on any matter of your case. It is the responsibility of the requestor to advise our office on how they want to proceed with the type of writ that has been ordered by the court.

If you require information about being garnished, you must contact an attorney or the court. You can also contact the creditor or attorney who has requested the garnishment. The Fresno County Sheriff’s Civil Unit is a disinterested neutral third party. We serve court orders adjudicated from the court. The Civil Unit does not give legal advice.

A request to serve a levy is on a first come first serve basis! Each file is reviewed and processed according to the information that is received. If the information on your request and on your writ conflict, your request will be returned.

Please follow the steps below:

1. Step one:
   Complete an instruction form for each person or entity to be served. The instruction form must be completed and signed by the plaintiff if pro per or if an attorney is on retainer, the attorney must complete and sign. It is very important that you state the type of service and the type of writ you have on the instruction form.
   If the request is to serve a Wage Garnishment, then an Application for Earnings Withholding Order must be completed. See below for forms.
   
2. Step two:
   Provide the valid Writ signed and sealed from the court.
   
3. Step three:
   Include the appropriate fee for service. See Fees & Service Type for fee amounts and forms of payment.
   The completed instruction form, valid writ, and payment can be mailed to our post office box address or brought to the window during public hours. See Civil Main Page for more information.

Once a service has been reviewed and accepted, a receipt for payment will be mailed to the requestor. The receipt contains the Sheriff’s file number for the levy. When corresponding with the Civil Unit, please use the Sheriff’s file number and the court case number.

Unlike non-execution services, levies will not have a proof of service. Depending on the type of levy requested, a response from the garnishee is required to be sent to the levying officer. Once the response is received, it is processed and mailed directly to the requestor.

When corresponding with the Civil Unit, please use the Sheriff’s file number and the court case number.

If you are requesting status of a levy, please email your requests to Civil.sheriff@fresnosheriff.org. Please allow 72 hours for someone to respond to your request. Please be sure to add the Sheriff file number and court case number to your specific inquiry.

The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office Civil Unit makes every effort to process and serve according to California State law. Pursuant to CCP 699.080 a Registered Process Server may serve the same documents once a levy has been opened with the Civil Unit.

If an employer or bank has misplaced a levy packet that was served by the Sheriff’s Office, and requests the service packet again, the request must be made in writing and the entity will be charged for copies of all pages of the original service. Payment must be made prior to receipt of receiving the documents. Unfortunately, if the documents were served by a Registered Process Server, the Sheriff’s Office will not be able to provide any service documents. 

If an employer has been served with an Earnings Withholding Order, they will receive two copies, a copy for the employee and a copy for the employer. The employer is required to give the employee their copy within 10 days of the service pursuant to CCP 706.104(a). The employer must respond with the completed employer’s return within 15 days of the service pursuant to CCP 706.104(b). The Employer’s Return can be mailed to our post office box address or emailed to Civil.sheriff@fresnosheriff.org.

If there are questions regarding when a debtor will be garnished, how much a debtor will be garnished, or any questions regarding garnishment checks sent by an employer, please contact the employer for clarification. 

If a bank has been served with a levy, they will receive the court order with a notice demanding the total dollar amount owed. The bank has 10 days to respond with a memorandum of garnishee pursuant to CCP 701.030. The same information is served upon the debtor by mail. If an account has been levied, the debtor will not receive access to the account(s). If the debtor does not have access to their account(s) and did not receive the levy information, they are to contact the Civil Unit by phone during regular public hours or email @ Civil.sheriff@fresnosheriff.org. 

It is best practice to contact the creditor or the attorney who has requested the levy to make arrangements with them. If no arrangement can be made, the debtor can file a claim of exemption. This will allow the case in question to be heard in court in front of a judge to determine if your financial status is exempt. This action does not stop the levy. However, the Civil Unit will hold all funds until we here from the attorney/ creditor or the judge.

If a debtor wants to file a claim of exemption, the debtor must complete the one-page claim and the two-page financial statement if they are claiming funds are used for the household. The original claim must be submitted to the Civil Unit. The claim can be mailed to our post office box address or bring the claim to our public window hours. There is no fee to file a claim of exemption. You are required to have the original and one copy. Our office will not process an emailed or faxed copy of your claim. NOTE: a claim of exemption submitted for an enforcement of judgment is time sensitive. 

It is the debtor’s responsibility to inform our office of any bankruptcy filing. When notifying our office, providing the bankruptcy case number is helpful. Once we are notified of the bankruptcy filing, we will process an “automatic stay” pursuant to 11 U.S.C. and all enforcement action will cease until we here from the bankruptcy court.