Judgement liens

A judgment lien results from a money judgment.

A judgment lien is a lien that is placed against any real property that you own, such as land or a house. If you file for bankruptcy, and the debt that resulted in the lien is discharged by the bankruptcy, the lien will be discharged too.

In many locales, a judgment automatically acts as a lien against any real property you own. With unsecured debt, the creditor does not actually have a security interest in any of your property, so if the underlying debt gets wiped in a bankruptcy, so will the judgment lien.

The liens that won't get wiped in a bankruptcy are your secured loans (car, mortgage, etc), where you have actually signed a security agreement giving the creditor an interest in the chattel. In those cases, when you file BK, you either have to reaffirm the debt or surrender the collateral.

In your case, though, your credit card debt will not keep a lien on your house after your file bankruptcy.

Thanks debtcruncher and David. I have a judgment, they haven't started collecting yet, but since I'm filing for bankruptcy I was wondering if that will be discharged because someone told me that it can't. Since I have no property or cars, all they can get from me would be my wages and/or bank account.

It will most likely be discharged. Judgments don't add any "importance" to debts in the bankruptcy court. If it's unsecured, it will be listed with all your other unsecured creditors.

The only way it wouldn't be discharged, would be if they could prove some sort of fraud on your part, or some other "good" reason why it shouldn't be discharged.

Thanks again:)

We have a Corporation in California, recently we received an Involuntary Lien on Real Property. Our bank account was levied and money taken out. There wasn't much money there and we need to find out if they can continue to go into our account anytime and take out funds. We are now short on payroll. Thanks

Yep, they can keep going until the judgement is sastisfied. Also depending on the type of business you have they can have court officer (deputy or marshal) sit in your business (at your expense and take every dime that a customer gives you.

I would get a new bank account.

WHAT IS THE TIME FRAME LAGALLY TO FILE A LIEN IN COLORADO FOR NON PAYMENT FOR LABOR ,SOMEBODY?

Hi. I had a lien placed on my home for a judgment which has since been vacated by the judge. If the plaintiff does not remove the lien (no notice so far after 45 days) after, say, 60 days can I sue for dismissal? I live in Calif. Is there a statue of limitations on how long they have to remove the lien?

We are a corporation and one of our customers failed to pay off their balance with us. We sued in small court and won but they still didn't pay.After over a year of attempts they agreed to a payment plan but defaulted on the last payment. Can I, and if so, how do I have a sheriff or deputy sit in their office and collect the payments they receive until my judgement is satisfied? thanks in advance.

The court won't act as a collection agency for you, so a sheriff is never going to go sit and wait for them to make a payment.

With a judgment, you can file a motion for financial disclosure, and the debtor will have to disclose their sources of income, bank accounts, etc. Then you can go get a garnishment and take from wages or their account.

For even more information, see:
"http://public.findlaw.com/library/legal-system/collect-wage-garnish.html"

If I owned a business and filed BK in 1998 and was told everything had been taken care of and I just now found out I have three judgement liens filed for unsecured taxes on myself from the business for 1997, 1998 and 1999 can I get them discharged? The business was not even active end of 1998 and in 1999?

You should post this question in the Tax Debt Forum so someone with tax and IRS knowledge can see it and be able to respond. Or you can post it in the Bankruptcy Forum.

Although I would venture to say that you should contact your BK attorney and verify what tax issues were put in the BK and what weren't.

I am in the process of selling my business, but I owe 16k in credit card debt (am ex), and approx. 16k in medical bills. My question is, can these companies put a lien on my business and can these companies collect on my profit before I even receive the money?

They have to sue you first and get a judgment.

I had an unsecured loan with Citifinancial that I have not been able to pay since June. Yesterday they sued me and won a judgement. Apparently both parties have 30 days to file an appeal. I tried to work with them but they would'nt work with me for the amount I can afford at this moment. My questions are these: Living in PA can they take my house if I have a lien placed on it? I mean could the bank take it because there is a lien on it? Both my husband and myself are on the mortgage but he is not on this loan. Also they have threatened me with a Sheriff's sale of my property? Since almoist all of the stuff in the house was bought by both of us how can they take things? One final question-we have changed our checking account to my husbands' name only but we have a joint account(for now) with $1.45 in it. Can they take that and then overdraw the account? I'mm trying not to file bankruptcy and hopefully pay a portion of this if I can renogiate this loan at a later date. One last thing I am on disability and cannot make any more money than i do right now. Any help you can give me will be greatly appreciated.

I don't know Pa. law, but...right next door to ya, in Ohio...unsecured debt suits ARE capable of forcing foreclosure, to get their money. A VERY frightening situation when 2 different people own the house & only one has the suit against them.

Good luck!

It would seem so.
http://www.pacode.com/secure/data/231/chapter3000/s3101.1.html

My understanding is the creditors, if they get a judgment lien, can force a sale, but this is rarely done because of the costs of doing so. And in Ohio, there is the homestead exemption which was raised last year from $5000 to $20,200, so the homeowner gets the first $20,200 from any sale. Add into that the falling real estate market, such that who knows what a home will sell for at an auction.