WG-015 Address Verification for California Judgment Levies

If you are collecting a personal debt judgment in California and need the sheriff to levy a bank account or garnish wages, there is a paperwork step most people miss: the Declaration of Address Verification. Skip it, and the sheriff returns your entire levy packet unprocessed.

What Form WG-015/EJ-135 Is

The current combined Form WG-015/EJ-135 (Declaration of Address Verification) is your sworn declaration that you verified the judgment debtor's address before asking the levying officer to serve enforcement papers, including wage-garnishment and non-wage levy papers. It asks for the address to be served and how and when you verified it.

When Address Verification Is Required

Address verification is mandatory when a levying officer must serve enforcement papers for a judgment involving personal debt under CCP § 684.130. Personal debt generally arises from a transaction primarily for personal, family, or household use; it excludes rental debt, debts due to tortious or fraudulent conduct, and unpaid wages, damages, or penalties owed to an employee. The current rule, as amended effective January 1, 2026, requires verification within the 12 months before giving the levying officer papers to serve.

You must submit the completed WG-015/EJ-135 to the levying officer as part of your packet, alongside the Writ of Execution (Form EJ-130), Form SER-001, and your fee deposit. You also need to file the completed declaration with the court clerk within 10 business days of giving a copy to the levying officer.

If your judgment is against a business entity (corporation, LLC, partnership), address verification is not required.

How to Verify the Address

The form asks you to declare how you confirmed the debtor's current address. Acceptable verification methods include:

• Receiving correspondence from the debtor that includes a return address or comparable verification
• Sending a letter or legal pleading by certified mail, or another USPS method with a return receipt, and receiving a return receipt signed by the debtor
• Using a commercial address verification service, including skip-tracing, or a public records database, then mailing a letter or legal pleading to the verified address by first-class mail and having it not returned
• Using another method and describing the method and date on the form

You sign the declaration under penalty of perjury. Do not guess at the address — if the address turns out to be wrong and the debtor suffers harm from a levy at the wrong location, you may face liability.

What Happens Without It

The sheriff checks your levy packet for completeness before acting on it. If the address verification form is missing on a personal debt levy, the packet goes back to you by mail. You lose the processing time (typically 1–3 weeks each way), and if your Writ of Execution (Form EJ-130) is approaching its 180-day expiration, you lose even more.

This is one of the most common reasons California sheriff levy packets get rejected — not because people refuse to fill out the form, but because they do not know it exists. The court clerk does not mention it when issuing the writ. The California Courts self-help guide lists the declaration as required for personal-debt levies, but general collection guides can omit the filing step.

Filing Timeline

After you give a copy of the WG-015/EJ-135 to the levying officer, you have 10 business days to file the completed declaration with the court clerk. Mark the date you submit the packet and calendar the filing deadline. Missing the court filing does not void the levy itself, but it can create problems if the debtor challenges the enforcement later.

Putting It Together

A complete levy packet for a personal debt judgment includes:

1. Original Writ of Execution (Form EJ-130)
2. Form SER-001 (Request for Sheriff to Serve)
3. Form WG-015/EJ-135 (address verification declaration)
4. Sheriff fee deposit
5. SER-001A (special instructions, if your county requires it)

For a full walkthrough of the sheriff levy process — fees, common rejections, and county-specific submission rules — see our sheriff levy guide.

The complete enforcement workflow is covered in our California judgment collection guide.

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