Syndicate Legal Advisory Services prepares the complete set of documents required for a plaintiff in a pending action to obtain a prejudgment writ of attachment and to create an attachment lien on the defendant’s personal property by filing a Notice of Attachment Lien with the Secretary of State — in California, Form ATL-1 under Code of Civil Procedure section 488.500 and the Attachment Law, sections 481.010 through 493.060, and in other states that provide prejudgment attachment, the equivalent filings — together with the levy documents for other categories of property and the post-attachment documents that maintain, convert, and release the lien. An attachment lien secures the plaintiff’s claim before judgment: once the court issues a right to attach order and a writ of attachment, a notice filed with the Secretary of State creates a lien on the defendant’s accounts receivable, chattel paper, equipment, farm products, inventory, and negotiable documents of title, with priority dating from the filing, and the lien converts to a judgment lien when judgment is entered. Working from the client’s answers to a structured intake and from the pleadings and the contract underlying the claim, we draft, assemble, and organize the eligibility analysis, the application for the right to attach order and writ, the supporting declarations and undertaking, the notice of attachment lien and the levy instructions, the related notices, and the post-attachment calendar, so the attachment is sought on a claim that qualifies, supported by the showing the court requires, and perfected by the filings that give it priority. Court filing fees, Secretary of State and county recorder fees, levying-officer fees, undertaking premiums, search fees, and other third-party charges are not included in the flat fee and are the sole responsibility of the client.
Scope of work includes:
Eligibility analysis and intake — a structured intake and written summary confirming that the claim meets the statutory requirements for attachment: a claim for money based on a contract, express or implied, in a fixed or readily ascertainable amount not less than the statutory minimum, not secured by real property (or secured by property that has become valueless through no fault of the plaintiff), and, where the defendant is an individual, arising out of the defendant’s trade, business, or profession; the defendant’s entity type and state of organization or residence; the property subject to attachment and the categories exempt from it; whether an ex parte application is justified by a showing of great or irreparable injury; the amount to be secured, including the estimated costs and attorney’s fees the attachment may cover; and the timing relative to the pleadings and the pending action.
Pre-application investigation — the search of the Secretary of State’s UCC, judgment-lien, and attachment-lien records and the county recorder’s indices against the defendant’s exact name and variants, the identification of the defendant’s attachable property and the third persons holding it, and a written summary of the existing liens that will have priority and the property to which the attachment lien will attach.
Application for right to attach order and writ of attachment — preparation of the application (Judicial Council Form AT-105 or the court’s equivalent) and the notice of application and hearing (Form AT-115), the supporting declarations establishing the probable validity of the claim, the basis of the attachment, and the absence of a purpose other than recovery on the claim, the declarations identifying the property to be attached and its value, the memorandum of points and authorities where the court or local rules require one, and, for an ex parte application, the additional declarations and the proposed order the ex parte procedure requires.
Undertaking — the plaintiff’s undertaking in the amount the statute requires (the statutory minimum, subject to increase on the defendant’s motion), the coordination of the surety bond with the client’s surety or the documentation of a cash deposit in lieu of bond, and the notice of filing of the undertaking.
Right to attach order and writ — the proposed right to attach order and order for issuance of writ of attachment (Form AT-120 or the court’s equivalent), the application for the writ itself (Form AT-125) for each county or levying officer, and the review of the issued writ for accuracy in the parties’ names and the amount.
Notice of attachment lien and levy documents — preparation of the Notice of Attachment Lien (Form ATL-1 or the state’s equivalent) with the names and addresses of the plaintiff and the defendant, the court, case number, and the date of the right to attach order, the amount secured, and the required declarations and signatures, for filing with the Secretary of State by the plaintiff or the levying officer as the statute directs, with the client paying the filing fee directly, and the review of the filing acknowledgment for the file number, date, and indexing; the levying-officer instructions for property attached by other methods — deposit accounts, real property (by recording a copy of the writ and notice of attachment with the county recorder), tangible personal property in the possession of the defendant or a third person, and property subject to a certificate of title — with the notices of attachment and the garnishee memoranda the levy requires; and the undertaking for a levy where the levying officer or the statute requires one.
Service and notice documents — the service of the application, declarations, and notice of hearing on the defendant, the service of the right to attach order and the notice of attachment on the defendant and on each third person holding attached property, and the notices to account debtors and bailees that direct payment or delivery to the levying officer.
Response and post-attachment documents — the opposition to the defendant’s motion to vacate or reduce the attachment or to increase the undertaking, the stipulation and order substituting the defendant’s undertaking for the attached property where the defendant posts one, the application for an additional writ for after-discovered property, and the documents converting the attachment lien to a judgment lien on entry of judgment, including the abstract of judgment and the notice of judgment lien.
Release and amendment documents — the release of attachment and the release of the notice of attachment lien with the Secretary of State and the county recorder when the attachment is vacated, the claim is satisfied, or the action is dismissed, the partial release where property is released by agreement, and the amendment where
Deliverable: a complete, indexed attachment file (electronic and hard copy) containing the eligibility analysis, the lien-search results and property summary, the application, declarations, and undertaking, the right to attach order and writs, the filed or file-ready Notice of Attachment Lien and the filing acknowledgment, the levy instructions and notices, the service documents, the post-attachment and release forms, and the deadline calendar, with a filing checklist and signature-ready versions of each document for execution by the plaintiff and its counsel of record.