Also known as: judgment liens · judgement lien · judgement liens
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A statutory lien that attaches to a judgment debtor's real property upon docketing of the judgment in the county records. The lien enables the judgment creditor to levy on the property and sell it to satisfy the judgment. Priority among competing liens is determined by the order of docketing.
John Jones buys Blackacre after Jennifer Jackson has already obtained and docketed a money judgment against him. The judgment lien immediately attaches to Blackacre upon Jones's acquisition. Jackson may now levy on the parcel to collect the judgment amount.
Julia Jensen sells Whiteacre to Jerome Jackson and takes back a purchase money mortgage for most of the price. Jackson already owes a docketed judgment to Jaffe Securities. The purchase money mortgage receives priority over the judgment lien even though the lender knew of the earlier judgment.
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Joanna Jung and Javier Jimenez hold Blackacre as joint tenants with right of survivorship. A creditor dockets a judgment lien against Jimenez only. When Jimenez dies, Jung takes the entire parcel by survivorship and the judgment lien terminates.
Jefferson Trust obtains a docketed judgment against John Jones individually. Jones and his wife hold their home as tenants by the entirety. The judgment lien does not attach to the home because the creditor cannot reach property held in that form for one spouse's separate debt.
No. The lien arises only when the judgment is docketed or recorded in the real property records of the county where the debtor's land is located.
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The lien expires because the debtor's interest terminates at death and the surviving joint tenant takes the whole property free of the lien.
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No. A judgment against only one spouse does not attach to property held by both spouses as tenants by the entirety.
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A purchase money mortgage given to the vendor or a third-party lender for acquisition funds has priority over a prior judgment lien against the purchaser even if the mortgagee knew of the judgment.
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…tenancy into a joint tenancy or tenancy in common. In holding that the spouses could jointly convey the property, free of any judgment liens against the husband, the court said: “To hold the judgment to be a lien at all against this property, and the right of execution suspended during the life of the wife, and to be enforced…