Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Lien on Property

A couple of thoughts.

First, a "substitution of trustee" is a fairly common occurrence prior to a foreclosure sale. The beneficiary of the trust deed (lender) can change trustees anytime it wants, and they usually do do shortly before foreclosing in order to put a local foreclosure specialist in place instead of the kindly old title insurance company.

Next thought is that getting a court to approve or order a lien does not in and of itself result in a perfected lien showing up on title. There are some steps to be taken between the courtroom and the county recorder's office, and neither the judge nor the court clerk is going to do this for you.

You should ask your attorney whether an abstract of judgment were recorded to perfect the lien for her/his fees, and also to check the priority of the lien.

If there is no equity after giving due effect to liens with priority, the lien is of little practical value because in a foreclosure there will be no money to pay it off. The lien, or more accurately the underlying obligation, will remain an unsecured liability.

Your phrase "deeded to a new trustee" is incorrect; I'm 99.99% sure this is not what has happened.

Re: Lien on Property

If you lien is subordinate to the lien being foreclosed, it will wipe out our lien. You can preserve you lien by curing the deficiency onthe foreclosing obligation and then foreclosing your own lien.