are judgements property specific?

[floridian]

say, that i had a judgement levied against me for 10k bucks... im collection proof, so they put a lein on my home, as its the thing ihave any equity in.... i walk from the house and it gets forclosed, i know they can fight with the bank about it....

but, since judgements can last many years, do they have an automatic lein for anything i will own in the future, or does the judgement die with the mortgage in forclosure?

[junker]

no, it doesnt die, they can go after anything not exempt, such as your motorcycles, cars, (florida doesnt have much as far as car exemption) bank accts, anything.....till its satisfied.

[floridian]

ok, say i buy a car 5 years down the road.... do they have to put a lein on it,or is it automatic?

[treehugger1]

The workings of liens vary from state-to-state. Here is an example in my area:

Suppose I have a judgment that sets a lien on real and personal property. My understanding here is that the lien does not automatically show up on a title to a car. What does happen is that should I go to sell the car, the lien will appear during the title check. I can't imagine that with a vehicle, the local courts would necessarily take the time to record a lien with the DMV. I'm not sure that most creditors will.

Interesting question.

[junker]

i have had judgements on and off for about30 years, never had one lien the title, what they do is TAKE the car,if it has value, i recently lived in florida 3 years, they didnt lien anything, and moved back to california, where i have lived about 30 years total, they have never liened the cars, as treehugger said, though some states may vary, florida has a very low exemption for cars, 1100 i think, total. so if the car has say 10k equity they will surely go after it. i would worry about bank accts, also when they do a asset search, or take you to court for debtors exam,they find out whats available.

[treehugger1]

Oregon raised the auto exemptions to $2150 a few years ago. You can probably guess how many folks in this day and age have 2150 or more in equity in an auto. While some folks pay cash, and others make large down payments, I would guess most folks did some type of 5 - 6 year financing. While it might be possible for someone here to go after the car, they would first have to pay the 1st lienholder (and possible 2nd, etc lienholders) and then pay me the $2150.00. Given you can hardly give a car away in my area, I can't see how any creditor or CA in their right mind would benefit from taking an auto unless the consumer had considerable equity.

[BigJohn]

ok, say i buy a car 5 years down the road.... do they have to put a lein on it,or is it automatic?

Just make sure you do not have much, if any, equity in the vehicle.