My husband has faced some legal issues recently and we needed to hire criminal attorneys. They have put a lien against our property in an amount that is much greater than what is owed to them. I was never notified of this, nor did my husband sign anything giving them the right to do this. I am scheduled to close on this property in a few days and this matter has not yet been cleared up. They have been asked to provide documentation which makes the lien enforceable and have not provided it. I am depending on the money for this closing to pay my families bills, and they are forcing me into many more fiancial problems. I do not know what steps need to be taken, I know this not legal, I just don't know what to do next?

Actually, it may be very legal. You need to review what your husband signed. I would be willing to bet it included, in the fine print, the right to attach tangible assets in case of non payment.

But you will not be able to close on the house unless you include payment or get a court order releasing the lien.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

Actually, it may be very legal. You need to review what your husband signed. I would be willing to bet it included, in the fine print, the right to attach tangible assets in case of non payment.

But you will not be able to close on the house unless you include payment or get a court order releasing the lien.

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This is the catch, these guys are sooo shady. The only thing we signed from them was a notebook piece of paper saying we would pay x amount of dollars, there was no fine print. The other thing is we have not received the first piece of mail from these guys, nothing at all. I have already hired a real estate attorney and they will not provide him with the documentation to enforce the lien. The other part of this is the said property in question was due to sell via an equity swap back several months ago, they knew that it was not going to be our property and no money was coming out of it per contract, and they notarized POA for said contract, if indeed such documentation existed wouldn't they furnish it to the attorney to get paid? They have had 3 weeks to do so, and keep asking for more info from us. I can recall when I went into there office a man yelling at the top of his lungs that these attorneys are crooks, they stole my property. That just keeps sticking out in my head, also, they filed a lis pendens/lien. I am not the type of person who does not pay my debts, like I said before, the amount is way over the amount we agreed to pay, and they have not even sent me a bill? Isn't this a little fishy?

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Originally Posted by wifey96

My husband has faced some legal issues recently and we needed to hire criminal attorneys. They have put a lien against our property in an amount that is much greater than what is owed to them. I was never notified of this, nor did my husband sign anything giving them the right to do this. I am scheduled to close on this property in a few days and this matter has not yet been cleared up. They have been asked to provide documentation which makes the lien enforceable and have not provided it. I am depending on the money for this closing to pay my families bills, and they are forcing me into many more fiancial problems. I do not know what steps need to be taken, I know this not legal, I just don't know what to do next?

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Someone had to sign something. You cannot simply lien against another person's property without legal process. Someone had to sign a guarantee or something with similar wording and this is not uncommon with criminal matters. Unfortunately in criminal matters the client is very often not happy with the outcome and refuses to pay so many Attorneys (at least in my area) obtain liens or permission to lien right from the beginning to avoid the Court process if they are not paid.

Sue them for your loses from the blocked sale

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wifey96

This is the catch, these guys are sooo shady. The only thing we signed from them was a notebook piece of paper saying we would pay x amount of dollars, there was no fine print. The other thing is we have not received the first piece of mail from these guys, nothing at all. I have already hired a real estate attorney and they will not provide him with the documentation to enforce the lien. The other part of this is the said property in question was due to sell via an equity swap back several months ago, they knew that it was not going to be our property and no money was coming out of it per contract, and they notarized POA for said contract, if indeed such documentation existed wouldn't they furnish it to the attorney to get paid? They have had 3 weeks to do so, and keep asking for more info from us. I can recall when I went into there office a man yelling at the top of his lungs that these attorneys are crooks, they stole my property. That just keeps sticking out in my head, also, they filed a lis pendens/lien. I am not the type of person who does not pay my debts, like i said before, the amount is way over the amount we agreed to pay, and they have not even sent me a bill? Isn't this a little fishy?

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You can always contact the Bar Association and report the firm - sometimes it takes forever but eventually the Bar Association checks things out, particularly if yours is not the first complaint.

I don't know why the law firm wouldn't furnish the info to your Attorney; I don't know why they haven't sent you a bill; I don't know if it's fishy or not; I don't understand how/why this happened in the first place.

If Attorney #2 cannot get through to Attorney #1 you need to involve Attorney #3.

Also you don't need a crminal attorney, you need a civil attorney, one that specialies in liens and loan. You want a criminal attorney if you are being charged with a crime to defend you from that crime.

And is this a mechanics lien for work done to the home ? Or what type of lien is it. While some liens are done illegally, they can be cleared up though civil court action. But it is going to be a couple months getting it cleared up, not a few days.