How do I collect on a small claims judgment if they still won't pay?

Winning produces a document establishing what is owed, and the distance between that document and money in your account is where most successful claimants quietly give up. Enforcement is a separate process you have to start, and nobody at the court does it on your behalf. The available routes are a garnishment served on whoever employs them, a levy against an account at a bank you can identify, and a lien recorded against real property in their name. Every one of those requires a specific piece of knowledge, and a judgment against a person whose employer, bank and holdings are all unknown to you does nothing at all and eventually lapses.

California provides a direct answer to that ignorance which very few people use. You can apply to have the other side ordered to attend court and answer questions, under oath, about what they earn, where they bank and what they own. It turns a dormant judgment into one you can act on, and the prospect of sitting through it produces voluntary payment in a fair proportion of cases before the hearing happens. The broader point is about sequencing: work this out before filing rather than after winning. If you cannot presently name an employer, a bank or an asset, the honest question is whether the filing fee buys you anything.