A judgment lien can prevent you from selling your real property and may require you to pay off the judgment lien before or at the time of closing. But can a judgment lien against you affect your family’s real property? If you are not on the deed, then your judgment lien will not impact your family member’s real property. If you are on the deed, then your judgment lien could impact your and your family member’s ability to sell the property.
A money judgment against you will become a lien on all real property owned by you in the county where your judgment creditor records a certified copy of the judgment. The judgment creditor may foreclose on the lien, just like a bank forecloses on a mortgage. If you have anyone other than your spouse on the deed and the property is not homestead property, then the judgment lien against you can affect you and everyone else that has ownership in the property. A judgment creditor would only have a stake in your share of the property, but the judgment creditor could prevent the property from being sold until the judgment creditor is paid off.
A judgment lien cannot attach to homestead property or property that you own with your spouse as tenants by the entirety if your spouse is not also part of the judgment. You automatically own property with your spouse as tenants by the entirety if the property was purchased during your marriage and you are both on title as husband and wife. If you are the only one named in the judgment lien, then it cannot attach to property you own with your spouse. However, it should be noted that if you transfer property to your spouse to hinder the judgment creditor, and the property was not homestead at the time of the transfer, the transfer would be considered a fraudulent conveyance and could therefore be undone.