Hi, I am a part owner of property that I put a sizable deposit 60% down of purchase price. I want to protect that money as it is my inheritance. I have documents that show the money being given to me & a directive to pass it to a bank & bank documents from AZ showing the money sitting in the account as well as an agreement showing the value protected signed by the individual & myself. How would I do this? Has anyone heard of an International Lien? Thanks

... I want to protect that money as it is my inheritance. ... How would I do this? ...
Hire an attorney in Arizona.


... Has anyone heard of an International Lien? ...

Nope. If there is such a critter, please let me know. I would be very, very surprised. Well, a maritime lien can be international in some respects, but I don't think that applies here.

So you inherited some money and invested that money in the purchase of some property. Any evidence you have of receiving the money is moot. The only thing that matters is evidence that you used that money to invest in this property. What evidence do you have of that? Are you listed on the deed? Do you have a partnership agreement with the other owner(s)?

So you are not in the US?
I hope you didn't pay cash for property you did not have investigated (title search to look for liens and determine the owner of record).
If this was a lot of money, I would hire a lawyer local to the property to find out, and try to sue if you were scammed.

I own the property jointly with my soon to be ex husband. I am disabled & put my inheritance down on the AZ property - 60% down payment & there is a money trail. We have a legally executed & signed matrimonial agreement in Canada that protected my inheritance & as well we both signed acknowledging we were overlooking specific property Acts. The trouble is the property is now only worth what I paid down cash yet my husband is trying to take me for a ride drawing out our divorce making me pay causing me to go broke. Not a very nice "serve & protect" employed man! The balance of the funds was paid out of a line of credit on our home that I also part own that has since been rolled into our mortgage that also has my name on it.

Money is an issue for me, thanks for your help!

I believe the lien is UCC or Commercial lien that allows us to lien our own property. I heard about it from a friend.

... We have a legally executed & signed matrimonial agreement in Canada that protected my inheritance ...

That's good. But, and this is ScottGem's point I think, on the Arizona end, what paperwork do you have that says you have an interest in the real property?

First, a lien is an encumbrance on a property that prevents it from being sold or transferred without the lien being settled. If you are listed as the owner of the property, then a lien is unnecessary.

If this property was purchased as an investment, then investments have risks. I don't know what the matrimonial agreement says to protect your investment. If it indemnifies you from a loss of your investment then that is your protection.

But this all like a complex legal issue that may be beyond the scope of this site. We need more details on what the this property is, why it was purchased and what agreements were signed with respect to the purchase.

thanks, I am a visitor to the United States from Canada; like many of us who winter in the states! The Title of the property at the time of purchase was in order. I submitted more details above & the amount of money I put down is substantial at 60% of the property value; unfortunately, as the economy tanked in AZ so did the property values. Now the property is barely worth what I put down on the place & the balance of the money we paid is now a mortgage on our home in Canada. I will have to pay 1/2 of the balance off so in essence, I am taking a boat load of depreciation on the property along with my ex but he is ticked I covered off my investment in a legal document that he signed willingly. Now though, he wants his pound of flesh regardless of what a legal document says & so I want to file some sort of a lien on the property to put him on notice that I have no intention - legally, to rollover & give him my family & my hard work to have this inheritance passed to me.I am disabled

First, when posting a follow-up question or info, please use the Answer options at the bottom of the page rather than the Comments.

Again, what does this document that you had signed to cover your investment say? That is the key to this whole thing.

I don't understand why you think you need to do something more here. There is nothing that I know of that you can file on the property "to put him on notice". If you have a document that says he will indemnify you against any investment loss that is all you need.

Right now your losses are on paper. Until the property is sold they remain paper losses. So I;m not sure what you want here. Do you want to sell the property or what?

Oh and what does the fact that you are disabled have to do with this?

II believe the lien is UCC or Commercial lien that allows us to lien our own property. I heard about it from a friend.


I am 99.9% positive that the Uniform Commerial Code (UCC) specifically excludes real estate (real property) and refers only to goods/belongings/"property"/merchandise which can be moved - such as cars, boats, etc.

I'm having difficulty following this. It must be one of those days. Why isn't the ownership/division of the Arizona property covered by the divorce? If you inherited during your marriage and chose to put that inheritance toward real property, why is that not a joint asset, to be addressed by the Court?