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California State Capitol on March 11, 2022. (Photo: Kevin Sanders for California Globe).

Actions for Which Attachments Can Be Used

An attachment may not be issued on a claim which is secured by any interest in real property arising from agreement, statute, or other rule of law

By Chris Micheli, April 19, 2025 2:30 am

The Code of Civil Procedure, in Part 2, Title 6.5, Chapter 3, deals with civil actions in which attachment is authorized.

Section 483.010 allows an attachment to be issued only in an action on a claim or claims for money, each of which is based upon a contract, express or implied, where the total amount of the claim or claims is a fixed or readily ascertainable amount not less than $500 exclusive of costs, interest, and attorney’s fees.

An attachment may not be issued on a claim which is secured by any interest in real property arising from agreement, statute, or other rule of law (including any mortgage or deed of trust of realty and any statutory, common law, or equitable lien on real property, but excluding any security interest in fixtures.

However, an attachment may be issued where the claim was originally so secured but, without any act of the plaintiff or the person to whom the security was given, the security has become valueless or has decreased in value to less than the amount then owing on the claim, in which event the amount to be secured by the attachment shall not exceed the lesser of the amount of the decrease or the difference between the value of the security and the amount then owing on the claim.

If the action is against a defendant who is a natural person, an attachment may be issued only on a claim which arises out of the conduct by the defendant of a trade, business, or profession. An attachment may be issued pursuant to this section whether or not other forms of relief are demanded.

Section 483.012 provides that, in an action to foreclose a mortgage or deed of trust on real property or an estate for years, pursuit of any remedy provided by this title does not constitute an action for the recovery of a debt or a failure to comply with any other statutory or judicial requirement to proceed first against security.

Section 483.013 states that federal disability benefits awarded to veterans for service-connected disabilities are exempt from the claim of creditors, and are not liable to attachment, levy, or seizure by or under any legal or equitable process whatsoever, as provided by federal law. However, this section does not apply to that portion of service-connected disability benefits that are subject to child and spousal support enforcement under federal law.

Section 483.015 sets forth the determination of the amount to be secured by an attachment and its sum and any reduction in that sum.

Section 483.020 specifies that the amount to be secured by the attachment in an unlawful detainer proceeding is the sum of specified amounts.

In addition, in an unlawful detainer proceeding, the plaintiff’s application for a right to attach order and a writ of attachment pursuant to this title may include an amount equal to the rent for the period from the date the complaint is filed until the estimated date of judgment or such earlier estimated date as possession has been or is likely to be delivered to the plaintiff, the amount to be computed at the rate provided in the lease.

Where the plaintiff has received a payment or holds a deposit to secure (1) the payment of rent and the performance of other obligations under the lease or (2) only the performance of other obligations under the lease, the amount of the payment or deposit is not to be subtracted in determining the amount to be secured by the attachment.

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