Page 131 - Judgment Enforcement Course

Judgment Enforcement – The Step-by-Step Course

and they will approve and stamp it, and then 2) when you get it back, mail + the fee

it to the recorder in the county where the JD has property. If the JD has property in
more than one county, then get an abstract for each county. (Be sure to check the
recording fee on the recorder website. ) (See Appendix #10 for Sample
Abstract.)

Other factors:

As I said by properly getting your lien down, you are pretty certain that when the debtor
sells or refinances the home, the Title Company will locate the lien and make sure you’ll
get paid off.

▪ Lien missed by title company:
If the Title Company misses your lien (about 10% of the time, in

my experience) your lien still stays on the property even after it’s
been sold and has a new owner! Good news! Now the Title Company has to pay if
there’s a title guarantee.

▪ Should you wait?

If you cannot wait until the property is sold or refinanced, you can force a sale of the
property by using a “Writ of Execution” and following other procedures. But I
recommend waiting, if you can. The judgment will be collecting much more interest than a
bank will give you for the same amount of money, and the lien should be secure unless the
bank forecloses due to nonpayment of the loan.

Important: Most states give homeowners a “homestead exemption.” This is the amount of
money that the debtor/homeowner keeps even if you force a sale of his home. In New York
it is $85,000 for most counties (more if you’re in the Boroughs). However, most states
have homestead exemptions that are much lower. Pennsylvania has no homestead at all!
Check on line (NOLO) to see what the homestead exemption is for your state. Just Google

it—“Homestead Exemptions + (Your state) + NOLO.”

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