Question

  03/09/12, 11:11 am
If you own your home and have judgments against you can you sell it without the judgments gettting all the money, how does that work?
Share This: Twitter Logo Facebook Logo Digg Icon
United States   |   Texas  |  Real Estate and Real Property
Cost: Free

Answer

Sarahjane "SJ" Davidson Swanson Says:

May 11,2012 2:16 PM

If you sell the home, the protections the homestead enjoyed as exempt property are lost, as cash/sales proceeds are not protected. Anyone holding cash that belongs to you (like the title company that is likely going to close the sale of the house) would be subject to a claim by the judgment creditor themselves if they released money to you knowing that you owed the judgment creditor. If the judgments have been abstracted and filed in the county records, they know about them. Also, you will likely be asked to sign a statement saying that you don't own anyone anything and there are no outstanding judgments against you in order for you to get any sales proceeds. If you give a false statement in response, there are penalties, even criminal penalties, that may be invovled. Bottom line, the answer to your question is probably no if a title company is involved. If the buyer is getting a loan from a bank/mortgage company, there will be a title company involved. Period. You should start negotiating with the judgment creditor about trying to settle the judgment for a discounted amount. You might consider hiring a lawyer to help you with this.


Sarahjane "SJ" Davidson Swanson
Swanson Law Firm, PLLC
5151 San Felipe St Ste 1950,Houston, TX 77056
713-881-9742
http://www.swansonpllc.com

Share This: Twitter Logo Facebook Logo Digg Icon