Washington § 3.66.120 - Court-ordered restitution — Enforcement.

(1) All court-ordered restitution obligations that are ordered as a result of a conviction for a criminal offense in a court of limited jurisdiction may be enforced in the same manner as a judgment in a civil action by the party or entity to whom the legal financial obligation is owed. The judgment and sentence must identify the party or entity to whom restitution is owed so that the state, party, or entity may enforce the judgment.

(2) At any time, including at sentencing, the court may determine that the offender is not required to pay, or may relieve the offender of the requirement to pay, full or partial restitution and accrued interest on restitution where the entity to whom restitution is owed is an insurer or state agency, except for restitution owed to the department of labor and industries under chapter 7.68 RCW, if the court finds that the offender does not have the current or likely future ability to pay. A person does not have the current ability to pay if the person is indigent as defined in RCW 10.01.160(3). For the purposes of this subsection, the terms "insurer" and "state agency" have the same meanings as provided in RCW 9.94A.750(3).

(3) All court-ordered restitution obligations may be enforced at any time during the 10-year period following the offender's release from total confinement or within 10 years of entry of the judgment and sentence, whichever period is longer. Prior to the expiration of the initial 10-year period, the court may extend the criminal judgment an additional 10 years for payment of court-ordered restitution only if the court finds that the offender has not made a good faith attempt to pay.

(4) The party or entity to whom the court-ordered restitution obligation is owed may utilize any other remedies available to the party or entity to collect the court-ordered financial obligation.

(5) Nothing in this section may be construed to deprive the court of the authority to determine whether the offender's failure to pay the legal financial obligation constitutes a violation of a condition of probation or to impose a sanction upon the offender if such a violation is found.

Construction—2022 c 260: "Nothing in this act requires the courts to refund or reimburse amounts previously paid towards legal financial obligations or interest on legal financial obligations." [ 2022 c 260 s 25.]

Effective date—2022 c 260: "This act takes effect January 1, 2023." [ 2022 c 260 s 26.]