Restitution in California: What You Have to Pay, and What Happens If You Cannot

If the judge said the word “restitution” and you have been worrying about it ever since, start here. Two different things in California get called restitution. They work differently, they go to different places, and one of them can be reduced when you are broke while the other one cannot. Almost everything people get wrong about this comes from mixing up the two.

Two different things, one word

When your case ends, the judge may order two separate money items. They sound alike. They are not alike.

The first is the restitution fine. It is a fine. It goes to the state, into a fund that helps crime victims in general. It is not paid to any person in your case. Penal Code 1202.4 says the court shall impose it in every case where a person is convicted of a crime, unless the judge finds compelling and extraordinary reasons not to.

The second is victim restitution. That is money paid to an actual person or business that lost something because of the crime. Penal Code 1202.4 says that in every case in which a victim has suffered economic loss, the court shall require the defendant to make restitution based on that loss.

The short version: the fine is a punishment paid to the state, and victim restitution is a repayment made to a person. When somebody tells you restitution cannot be lowered, they are usually talking about the second one and you are usually asking about the first one.

The restitution fine: what it costs

Penal Code 1202.4 sets the range. For a felony the fine is at least 300 dollars and not more than 10,000 dollars. For a misdemeanor it is at least 150 dollars and not more than 1,000 dollars. The judge picks a number inside that range.

Most people get the minimum, or something close to it. The statute also lets a court work out a felony fine by multiplying the minimum by the number of years of imprisonment and then by the number of felony counts. That is an option the judge has, not a formula the judge must use.

The judge has to impose this fine unless there are compelling and extraordinary reasons not to, and the reasons have to be said out loud on the record. Being unable to pay is not by itself a compelling and extraordinary reason. But being unable to pay does matter for how big the fine is, which is the next section.

Read more: the fine, the suspended second fine, and what happens if the judge waives it

The ranges. Penal Code 1202.4, subdivision (b)(1), sets a felony fine at not less than 300 dollars and not more than 10,000 dollars, and a misdemeanor fine at not less than 150 dollars and not more than 1,000 dollars. Subdivision (b)(2) is the optional multiplication method for felonies: the minimum fine multiplied by the number of years of imprisonment, multiplied by the number of felony counts.

How the judge picks a number. Subdivision (d) lists what a court considers when it goes above the minimum. The list includes your inability to pay, the seriousness of the offense, any economic gain you got from the crime, the losses the victims suffered, and the number of victims. Notice that inability to pay is on that list. That is the opposite of the rule for victim restitution, and the difference is deliberate.

The second fine that looks alarming and usually never gets collected. If you are sentenced to a term that carries parole, postrelease community supervision, or mandatory supervision, Penal Code 1202.45 requires the court to add a second fine in the same amount as the first one. Then it suspends it. That second fine is only collected if your parole, postrelease community supervision, or mandatory supervision is later revoked. So a minute order showing two identical fines is normal and does not mean you owe double.

If the judge waives the fine. Penal Code 1202.4, subdivision (m), says that if the court finds and states on the record compelling and extraordinary reasons for not imposing the restitution fine, it must order community service instead, unless there are also extraordinary reasons not to do that. So a waived fine is usually traded for hours, not erased.

What this section does not cover. Court operations assessments and criminal conviction assessments are separate items imposed under different statutes and are not the restitution fine. This page does not cover them.

Victim restitution: the money that goes to a person

This is the part that is about somebody else’s actual loss. A repair bill. A stolen laptop. An emergency room visit. Wages somebody did not earn because they were hurt or because they had to take a day off to talk to the police.

Penal Code 1202.4 says that in every case in which a victim has suffered economic loss as a result of the defendant’s conduct, the court shall require the defendant to make restitution based on the amount of loss claimed by the victim, or on any other showing to the court. The order has to identify each victim and each loss it covers.

Victim restitution is about making somebody whole, not about punishing you, and that single idea explains every rule in this section. It is why the amount tracks the loss and nothing else.

What counts as a loss you have to repay

The statute does not leave this open ended. Penal Code 1202.4 sets out a list, and if a loss is not on the list or is not economic, it generally is not part of a restitution order. Money for pain and suffering, for example, is not on the list except in one narrow category.

• Property that was stolen or damaged, valued at what it would cost to repair or replace it
• Medical expenses
• Mental health counseling expenses
• Wages or profits lost because the victim was injured
• Wages or profits lost because the victim was helping the police or the prosecution
• Interest, which the statute sets at 10 percent a year
• Actual and reasonable attorney’s fees and costs of collection

There are more categories than that, and the full list is in the dropdown below. The order has to name each victim and each loss, so you are entitled to see an itemized figure rather than one round number.

Read more: every category of loss the statute lists, and how the interest works

Penal Code 1202.4, subdivision (f)(3), requires the order to be of a dollar amount sufficient to fully reimburse the victim for every determined economic loss incurred as the result of the defendant’s criminal conduct, and it then lists the categories. Read this run at subdivision level, the lettered clauses run from (A) through (L):

• (A) Full or partial payment for the value of stolen or damaged property, measured by the replacement cost of like property or the actual cost of repairing it when repair is possible
• (B) Medical expenses
• (C) Mental health counseling expenses
• (D) Wages or profits lost because of injury incurred by the victim
• (E) Wages or profits lost by the victim, and by any parent or guardian of a minor victim, because of time spent helping the police or the prosecution or attending court proceedings
• (F) Noneconomic losses, but only in the narrow category of felony conviction for child sexual abuse. This is the one place the statute reaches beyond out of pocket money
• (G) Interest, at the rate of 10 percent per year
• (H) Actual and reasonable attorney’s fees and other costs of collection
• (I) Expenses of relocating for safety
• (J) Expenses of installing or increasing residential security
• (K) Expenses of retrofitting a residence or vehicle to make it accessible, where the victim was disabled by the crime
• (L) Costs of monitoring and repairing credit and identity where the crime involved identity theft

The interest matters more than people expect. Ten percent a year on an unpaid balance compounds into real money over a long probation term. If you can pay early, pay early, because the interest clause is the reason a restitution balance can grow while you are making payments.

The Victim Compensation Board. Penal Code 1202.4, subdivision (f)(4), deals with the situation where the state’s Restitution Fund has already paid a victim’s bills. Assistance provided by that fund is presumed to be a loss resulting directly from the criminal conduct, and it has to be included in the restitution order. In plain language, if the state paid the victim first, you may end up repaying the state rather than the person.

Two special categories. The main victim restitution rule opens with the words “Except as provided in subdivisions (p) and (q).” Subdivision (p) deals with restitution to human trafficking victims. Subdivision (q) deals with restitution to owners of intellectual property in cases involving unauthorized recordings. Neither applies to an ordinary case, but they are the reason the main rule is worded as an exception.

What is not here. Nothing in the list read this run covers general pain and suffering outside clause (F), and nothing covers a loss that is not economic. If somebody is claiming money for how the crime made them feel, that claim needs a lawyer’s eye.

“I cannot afford it” works on one of them and not the other

This is the whole reason the difference between the two matters.

For the fine, what you can afford is a factor. The statute lists your inability to pay among the things a court weighs when it sets an amount above the minimum. Raise it, and raise it before the judge picks a number.

For victim restitution, what you can afford is not a factor in the amount at all. The statute says so directly. If your neighbor lost 8,000 dollars, the number is 8,000 dollars whether you have it or not.

So the useful thing to argue about is not the total, it is the proof and the schedule. You are allowed to make the other side show what was actually lost, and you are allowed to ask the court for terms you can really meet.

What a restitution hearing is actually like

It is usually short and it is usually about paperwork. The victim, or the probation officer on the victim’s behalf, puts in a claim with receipts, repair estimates, pay stubs, or a bill. You get a chance to look at it and say what is wrong with it.

Nobody is deciding whether you are guilty at this hearing. That part is over. The only question is how much money, and for what.

The most effective thing a person can do here is boring: come with documents that contradict the claim. A repair quote lower than the one they filed. A receipt showing the item was older than they said. A pay record showing the days they missed were fewer.

• Get a copy of the restitution claim and every receipt behind it before the hearing, not the morning of
• Bring your own estimates or quotes for anything you think is overstated
• Bring proof of anything you already paid directly, including insurance payments
• Bring your own pay stubs and bills if you are going to ask for a payment schedule
• Write down the total you think is correct, so you are arguing for a number and not just against theirs

Here is what actually happens. Sometimes the prosecutor puts a witness on the stand to prove the loss. Just as often they hand up a packet of paperwork and leave it to the other side to dispute what is in it. Either way, the job of pointing out what is wrong with the claim lands on you, which is why walking in with documents matters more than walking in with an argument.

Expect the court to set a monthly payment schedule, and expect the balance to go to collections. That is the ordinary path. It is not a sign the hearing went badly.

After the case is over: how it gets collected

This surprises people. A restitution order does not disappear when your probation ends or your case closes.

Penal Code 1214 says a restitution order is fully enforceable by the victim as if it were a civil judgment. That means the ordinary tools for collecting a court judgment for money are available: wage garnishment, bank levies, liens. Penal Code 1203.1 says the same thing about a restitution order made as part of probation, that it is fully enforceable as a civil judgment.

The restitution fine is handled separately. Penal Code 1214 provides for the fine to be enforced as a money judgment as well, and it can remain enforceable by the California Victim Compensation Board after probation or parole has ended.

The practical takeaway is that restitution follows you, and the person it is owed to does not need the criminal court’s help to collect it.

Read more: what “enforceable as a civil judgment” means in practice

Penal Code 1214, subdivision (b), provides that in any case in which a defendant is ordered to pay restitution, the order shall be fully enforceable by a victim as if the restitution order were a civil judgment. Penal Code 1203.1, subdivision (a)(3), says the court shall provide for restitution in proper cases and that the restitution order shall be fully enforceable as a civil judgment forthwith.

A civil judgment for money is collected through tools that have nothing to do with the criminal case. In broad terms that includes an abstract of judgment recorded against real property, a writ of execution, a wage garnishment, and a bank levy. The victim can pursue these on their own timeline, through the civil side, without going back to the judge who sentenced you.

What that means if you are trying to get on with your life. A restitution balance is a debt with a court’s name on it. It can show up when you try to buy a house. It can take a slice of a paycheck. The single best protection is to pay it down, get receipts, and keep a record of every payment, because you are the only person with an incentive to prove what you already paid.

And one thing that is genuinely unsettled here. Nothing read for this draft says that a victim restitution order expires. The ten year rule in the next section is about the restitution fine, and it should not be read across to victim restitution.

The ten year rule almost nobody mentions

Here is a fact that is on the books and is missing from nearly every page about California restitution.

Penal Code 1465.9, subdivision (d), says: “Upon the expiration of 10 years after the date of imposition of a restitution fine pursuant to Section 1202.4, the balance, including any collection fees, shall be unenforceable and uncollectible and any portion of a judgment imposing those fines shall be vacated.”

If you have an old case with a restitution fine balance still being collected, the date it was imposed is worth finding. It is on the minute order or the abstract of judgment from your sentencing.

Read more: the 2021 and 2022 fee repeals, and exactly what they did and did not erase

California abolished a long list of criminal administrative fees, and the balances people already owed on them were wiped out rather than merely stopped going forward. Penal Code 1465.9 is where that is written down. It has four working parts.

Subdivision (a). The balance of court imposed costs under a list of sections, as those sections read on June 30, 2021, is unenforceable and uncollectible, and any portion of a judgment imposing those costs is vacated. The list includes Penal Code 987.4, 987.5(a), 987.8, 1203, 1203.1e, 1203.016, 1203.018, 1203.1b, 1208.2, 1210.15, 1463.07, 3010.8, 4024.2 and 6266. In everyday terms these are things like the cost of an appointed lawyer, probation supervision costs, booking fees and the cost of home detention or work release.

Subdivision (b). On and after January 1, 2022, the balance of court imposed costs under a second list, as those sections read on December 31, 2021, is also unenforceable and uncollectible. That list includes Penal Code 1001.15, 1001.16, 1001.90, 1202.4, 1203.1, 1203.1ab, 1203.1c, 1203.1m, 1203.4a, 1203.9, 1205, 1214.5, 2085.5, 2085.6 and 2085.7.

Be careful with that second list, because it names 1202.4 and this is the place a reader can go badly wrong. Subdivision (b) reaches court imposed costs under those sections. Penal Code 1202.4 contains administrative and collection cost provisions as well as the fine and the victim restitution order. Subdivision (b) is aimed at the costs. It does not say the restitution fine is wiped out, and it plainly does not say victim restitution is wiped out. The restitution fine has its own, separate rule, which is the ten year provision in subdivision (d).

Subdivision (c). On and after July 1, 2022, the balance of any court imposed civil assessment under Penal Code 1214.1 imposed before that date is unenforceable and uncollectible. A civil assessment is the extra charge added when somebody misses a court date or a payment.

Subdivision (d). The ten year rule for the restitution fine, quoted in full above.

The honest summary. Fees are gone. Civil assessments from before July 2022 are gone. The restitution fine becomes uncollectable ten years after it was imposed. Victim restitution is untouched by any of it.

If you are still getting collection letters for something on one of those lists, that is worth raising with the court, because the statute says the judgment portion imposing those costs is to be vacated.

Restitution and clearing your record

People put off applying to clean up a record because they still owe restitution and assume there is no point. That assumption is wrong, and the Legislature said so directly in two places.

For a dismissal under Penal Code 1203.4, the expungement statute, subdivision (c)(3) says a petition “shall not be denied due to an unfulfilled order of restitution or restitution fine.” It goes further and says an unfulfilled order is not grounds for finding that you failed to complete the conditions of probation, and that when the court considers the petition in the interest of justice, an unpaid order is not grounds for denial.

For reducing a felony to a misdemeanor under Penal Code 17, subdivision (f) says: “When the court exercises its discretion under this section, an unfulfilled order of restitution or a restitution fine shall not be grounds for denial of a request or application for reduction.”

So an open restitution balance is not a locked door. It does not erase the debt, and the debt keeps its own life as a civil judgment, but it is not a reason to wait years before asking a court to clean up the record.

We have separate guides on getting a conviction dismissed under Penal Code 1203.4 and on reducing a felony to a misdemeanor.

What we see in real cases

A few patterns worth knowing before you walk in.

The number on the first claim is often not the final number. Claims get filed with the highest estimate somebody had handy. Asking for the receipts behind it is normal, expected, and frequently changes the total.

The fine and the order get confused constantly, including in paperwork. If you are looking at a minute order with several money lines on it, find out which line is the fine, which is the suspended second fine under Penal Code 1202.45, and which is victim restitution. They have completely different rules and you cannot plan around them until you know which is which.

Paying something is better than paying nothing, even when the total is impossible. A payment history is the evidence that you are trying, and it is the thing you will want in front of you the next time you are asking a court for anything.

Timing works against you. Interest runs at 10 percent a year on victim restitution. A balance you ignore for five years is not the same balance.

If you are trying to work out how long your probation runs while you pay this off, see how long probation lasts in California. If you had more than one case, how custody credits get sorted between cases covers the related problem of which case gets credit for what.

Do I need a lawyer for this?

For a small, well documented restitution claim that you agree with, you can often handle it yourself. Ask for the paperwork, check it, and tell the judge if a number is wrong.

Get a lawyer if the claimed amount is large, if the loss list includes things you do not think the crime caused, if somebody is claiming money for something that is not on the statute’s list, or if you are being asked to pay for losses that belong to a case you were not convicted on. Those are the fights where the rules matter and where the amount can genuinely move.

A lawyer who appears regularly in the courthouse where your case sits is worth more here than a general answer, because how restitution hearings are set and heard is a local habit rather than a statewide rule.

Last reviewed: September 2026.

This is general information, not legal advice. Talk to a California attorney about your situation.