Can a credit card company which has serverd me a final judgement put a lien on my house or issue a writ of execution on anything I own (sell anything in my house, or sell my house or car)? :o

I live in Florida, so I need current Florida laws only.

Are there any attorneys out there that are familiar with this?

Thanks! :)

ms. nerraw

Sorry, I forgot to mention it is an unsecured credit card.

Thanks,

Nerraw

If the court has ordered a judgment against you, they most certainly can put a lien on your house. They *might* be able to on your car but it is unlikely that they would.

First, a credit card company can't serve you with a judgment. They can sue you and a court has to award them a judgment.
Second, if they are awarded a judgment, then they are allowed to place a lien on anything that has your name on it, whether it be a house, a car, a bank account, etc.

As far as I have read in the laws and on this site, if it is an unsecured debt (no collateral)
They can not put a lien on your house, only if it is from company which did work on your house (roofer,contractor.. ). However I don't know if they can do the writ of execution.
I have been applying for disability for 4 years now due to a broken back and several other chronic medical conditions from it. It is in its 2nd appeal now. But have not been working for 2.5 yrs.
The final judgement is at the request of the plaintiff because I cannot pay the monthly payments anymore. I went to court a year ago. So they judgement is not 'court ordered' so to say.

Maybe an attorney out there can help me with Fl laws. They vary state to state.

Thanks for your time

You have already advised two people on this same subject so I am a little bit confused why you are asking the question.

Here is the answer for Florida: In order to get the sheriff to levy upon (to seize) the judgment debtor's property, you must first locate the property. The sheriff won't do this for you. Remember that there are many kinds of property the sheriff can seize. Land and buildings are called real property. Movable things, like cars, horses, boats, furniture, and jewelry are called personal property. There are some kinds of property the sheriff cannot levy on. The main kind of property the sheriff cannot seize is a person's home. A person's homestead is exempt from execution. The judgment debtor may also select personal property worth up to $1,000, and one motor vehicle worth up to $1,000, as exempt property. Only people have exemptions. If your judgment is against a corporation or a partnership, the sheriff can seize all of its property. Of course, the sheriff can only levy on property the judgment debtor truly owns - not property owned by somebody else, such as leased property.

Answered on one of your other threads: https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/small-...ml#post1483291

I don't understand how you are advising people on this subject on one thread and asking the identical question on another - ?

First, most states do not allow attachment of primary residences for unsecured debt. Florida's Homestead laws exempt personal residences. As noted this also includes an exemption for up to $100 worth of personal property. But crediutors rarely want personal property as it's a hassle to try and sell.

It looks like the court tried to mediate a settlement for you which you have now reneged on. So they are going back to court to get a judgement. They may not be able to do anything with that judgement right now, but a judgement can be kept active for as much as 20 years.

Finally, You are new here so I want to advise you that we take pride in the accuracy of the advice given here. You are welcome to answer questions, but please be careful to make sure your answers are accurate.

I am confused then. You once told me a lien can be attached to a home for any money owed, assuming a court ordered it.

Can I answer this? (Pick me, pick me!) In some States, even though the creditor cannot pursue a lien against a homestead, a lien can still be filed. It clouds the title sufficiently to make a sale of the property very difficult.

So in essence the lien does not have to be removed in order to sell the property but no buyer in their right mind (with title insurance) would buy the property because the lien could transfer?

Or in other words, it is not technically a lien but for all intents and purposes it might as well be?

That's pretty much it - if you look up the law in the homestead States (I usually look at Florida and Texas) it's pretty much spelled out.

I guess the theory is that buying property with a lien against it becomes a nightmare when "you" try to remove the lien and so buyers turn away.

Did I say that? It really depends on the local county clerk. If a court orders something, the county clerk will comply. Also a lien is different from a writ of execution. In very few states can a creditor seize a home for unsecured debt. But that's different a lien.

I have met with legal Aid with the Florida bar and HUD as well since I last got online. And yes this is a final judgement ordered by the court because I (like millons of other americans w/ out med. Insurance right now) cannot afford to pay the payments which the judge did come up with the $100 figure and then an attorney sat with me to fill out the paper work on the agreement. I am mentioning this because a comment was made or correction on my reply to a person as to what to expect w/ their case in court. My terminology was not correct. Such as I said 'the creditor filed a judgement' when of course the creditor took it to court and the courts are filing a judgement. And 'the judge set up a payment plan', when the judge did come up with the amount and I sat with a representing attorney of the creditor who actually filled out the papers for my agreement to pay the said monthly amount. It was not intended to be a one time intent to pay.

I thought it was clear that you simply go to court and most likely an amount can be agreed upon for monthly payments until the debt is satisfied. That is all I was trying to tell them and I do know that is true. Just trying to keep it simple and put some of their fears to rest about the unknown.

As far as offering advice when asking a question at the same time, my advice was the experince I had been through and was sure of that. My questions were not about what happens on your 1st court hearing, they are about the final judgement. Different topic.
When I wrote out what I had read, it was open for someone to correct my interpetation.
As to your comment on 20 year life of a lien, that is not true. It is 10 years, it may remain active and on your credit report as well. Also, personal exemption is $1000.

As for selling property w/ a lien on it, yes you may do that and it is not that difficult in the mind of a lot of buyers. You just reduce the amount of the house to satisfy the lien and pay it off with both the buyer & seller involved. Unless it is a huge amount or multiple liens, this is done quite often easily if both parties are honest and responsible.
This is what I was told by Legal Aid. They also said this sort of stuff hardly EVER happens over unsecured debits. Of curse they want money and unless you have any back accounts with money in them that they can attach to or wages to garnish, there is little they will do.
They don't want someone's horse or doll collection. It COULD happen that they might pop up over a 10 year period but they never heard of it happening to anyone with amounts of this size and the number of people that have run up large amounts on careless spending would be the ones they might go after, if at all. But medical bills are for most of the part, dismissed.
HUD does not work w/ unsecured debit or anything unrelated to your house. They will represent me with my mortgage company in trying to reduce my interest rates or of course if one is behind on payments or fighting foreclosure.

My lesson is (and I knew it in the begining) is to seek out free legal help with lawyers (such as pro bono) who are specifically trained in that area and my state in their office.
Someone suggested I try this site and it was a 1st for me. It has not worked for me, thus the meeting with legal aid. It just seemed convienent if it was helpful.
I agree you should not comment on something you don't know about, I see the confusion here on replies for just one question I have asked.
For the real experts. It is great on many topics, highly educational. As for me, don't worry, I won't be posting here anymore.

What you have posted is NOT the case in every State. Far from it, in fact. The fact that liening against an assets hardly ever happens doesn't mean it NEVER happens and so the answers here are very comprehensive - but state the Law and would COULD happen.

Just for purposes of clarification - this site is NOT intended to take the place of a consultation with an Attorney admitted to practice. That is stated clearly in several places including part of signature lines.

Whether you agreed or didn't agree with the information here, whether it worked for you or didn't work for you, it was NEVER intended to take the place of advice from an Attorney.

As far as the "real experts" - the only real experts are the people who are licensed, sit down across the desk from you in YOUR state, review the paperwork and the laws and give you advice. Not people on the Internet who have probably 5% of the story.

Again, that is generally NOT the case. Judges rule on matters of law, their job is not to act as intemediaries or mediators. Are you sure this was a judge and not a pre-trial mediation?

that your answers were not very accurate. That was what sparked the criticism.

Here again, you are misusing terms which can cause some confusion. I never said anything about the 20 year life of a lien. A lien remains in effect until its paid off or released. The 20 years I referred to were for a judgement. Generally a judgement lasts for 7-10 years depending on location. Generally they can be renewed almost automatically for another 7-10 years.

No one sais you can't put up a property for sale with a lien on it. But you cannot complete the sale until the lien is satisified. You are correct that generally a representative of the lien holder attends the closing and they are paid from the proceeds of the sale. They then sign a release and the title insurer certifies the title.

However, it is also true that a property with a lien can scare off a buyer.

This is the same advice you were given. Creditors do not want real property. Unless the property has a large and certifiable value, its often more trouble then its worth to seize and auction it off. So its rare for a judgement holder to go after anything other than cash assets, for unsecured debt.

I don't know why it hasn't worked for you since we gave you pretty much the same advice that you got from legal aid. I don't see any confusion in the replies you received except for that generated by the vagueness of your question.

If you decide to no longer post here that's your decision. This is an active site with a great reputation for providing high quality advice. In my opinion you got very good advice here. So it will be your loss, not ours, if you decide not to use this site in the future.