Also known as: judgment lien creditors · judgment-lien creditor · judgment creditor · lien creditor
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A creditor who has obtained a valid court judgment for a sum of money or specific property and has perfected a lien on the debtor's property under applicable law. The lien attaches to the debtor's real or personal property and confers priority rights against subsequent interests in many statutory schemes.
Tech Integrators sold servers to Swift Insurance on credit and retained a purchase-money security interest. The landlord obtained a judgment against Swift Insurance for unpaid rent and recorded a lien on the servers before Tech Integrators filed its financing statement. The landlord's perfected judgment lien takes priority over the unperfected security interest because the filing occurred outside the statutory grace period.
Harper obtained a money judgment against Blake after restoring trust assets through litigation against a self-dealing trustee. Harper then sought to garnish Blake's trust distributions despite a spendthrift clause. The court permits enforcement because Harper qualifies as a judgment creditor who provided services protecting the beneficiary's interest.
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Jennings Forge obtained a judgment against a general partner of a limited partnership for a partnership debt. The firm attempted to levy directly on the partner's personal assets. Execution is barred because no prior judgment was entered against the partnership and no writ of execution was returned unsatisfied.
Jose Jimenez obtained a judgment against a partner personally liable for a partnership obligation. Jimenez sought to seize the partner's individual assets to satisfy the judgment. The creditor must first obtain a judgment against the partnership and return an unsatisfied writ before levying on the partner's separate property.
A federal statute governs perfection of security interests in certain aircraft. Jordan Dynamics obtained a judgment lien against the debtor's plane under state law. The federal statute's requirements preempt the state judgment lien because they establish priority over lien creditors without additional state filing.
A court found that partnership assets were clearly insufficient to satisfy a judgment against the limited partnership. The judgment creditor of a general partner petitioned for permission to execute against the partner's personal property. The court granted relief after determining that exhaustion of partnership assets would be excessively burdensome.
A judgment lien creditor prevails over an unperfected security interest when the lien arises before the secured party perfects. The creditor must have a valid judgment and perfect the lien under state law to qualify for this status.
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A judgment lien creditor may reach trust distributions when the creditor provided services that protected the beneficiary's interest in the trust. The spendthrift provision is unenforceable against such a creditor under the Uniform Trust Code exception.
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The creditor must obtain a judgment against the partnership itself and return an unsatisfied writ of execution. Direct execution on the partner's separate property is otherwise prohibited unless additional statutory conditions are met.
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…apply to the district court having jurisdiction of the matter, on not less than 10 days' written notice to the mortgagee or judgment creditor, or the attorney of either, as the case may be, for an order determining the reasonable value of the income on said property, or, if the property has no income, then the reasonable rental…