Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

One way, of course, is for your father-in-law to pay his tax liability. I assume, however, that this is unlikely to happen soon enough.

Possibly you could work out a deal where you make him a loan of the amount of the lien, then make sure the loan proceeds are delivered to the IRS in exchange for release of the lien. This would require a balance between the lien amount, your ability to pay it, and your father-in-law's ability and willingness to play ball.

Or, you could tackle the IRS bureaucracy and attempt to get the error (if it is indeed an error; it could be a tactic) reversed. In my somewhat limited IRS lien experience, spread over many years and diverse IRS offices, this process requires identifying the particular office and officer dealing with this case. With a little detective work, you can probably locate the individual within the IRS that was responsible for the lien. Try to get a personal appointment with the officer and bring documentation to prove his mistake. There are other ways to tackle IRS problems, through their obudsman and other greivance programs, which you can fall back on if a more direct approach isn't going to work, but they may be too slow.

I'll be interested to see what other LawGuru participants have to say.

I'm skeptical of your post. A tax lien is listed in a person's name, and for years would also carry the social security number (recently modified to the last 4.) The lien would attach to all property held in the person's name listed in the lien. It's not directed to a particular parcel of property.

The only way an IRS tax lien could attach would be if your father in law had a recorded interest in your house. In that situation, the lien is proper.