Everything you need to know about judgment lien

Are you at a loss as to how to collect your judgment money from your debtor, even after the court of law ruled in your favor? You must first recognize that the process of collecting your judgment money is just that, a process. For that reason, you have to start at the very beginning of the process. And the first tool in this process is getting hold of your judgment lien.

So, what exactly is a judgment lien?

A lien is a charge against a property to secure settlement of a debt. It affixes a debt to real estate. That being so, if the property owner decides to sell the property in the future, the attached lien must first be paid off. For the most part, it is paid from the cash changing hands in the sale of the estate. So your judgment is essentially a debt that can create a lien on the property of your debtor. But, the fact that you have a judgment does not, by itself, create a lien on your debtor's property. And while an automatic lien would be pleasant, that is just not how things work.

Now, to the more pressing question – How can you obtain a lien?

Creating a lien from your judgment is not as challenging as it may come across as being. You simply have to prepare and submit an abstract of judgment in the county records. An abstract is not a difficult or complex legal document. It is only a written overview of how much the debtor owes you. However, it must be correctly prepared to create your lien. If your civil judgment is in a justice court or a small claims court, the justice of the peace prepares the abstract for you. But, if your judgment is in any other state court, you can prepare the abstract yourself.

And how does it work, you might ask?

When you have your abstract in hand, you can take it to the county clerk for recording. The clerk will then register the abstract in an alphabetical index of judgment records. Now, your judgment lien is created. This means that if the debtor owns any real property in the county where you have recorded the abstract, your lien will simply attach to that property. The only exception here would be a homestead property.

Once you create the judgment lien, it continues for ten years. You can keep both the judgment and the judgment lien alive longer than ten years. Does not seem too complicated now, does it?

At the Law Offices of Alan M. Cohen LLC, we aggressively approach commercial debt collection in Massachusetts. With more than 30 years of experience, we take whatever legal steps are necessary to collect for you as much of your delinquent account as