Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Selling my property

An old judgment in Ohio is unlikely to have an effect on the close of sale of real property in California if there has been no enforcement action in California. If a preliminary title report was obtained in connection with your pending sale and it didn't reflect the Ohio judgment, the Ohio judgment is unlikely (but not impossible) to crop up prior to close of escrow.

If you are under contract and/or in escrow, I think it would be foolish to try to take yourself off title before your sale closes. Everyone involved would want to know the reason.

Finally, let me caution you abount the Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act, or UFTA. Every state has this or a similar law which provides that a transfer of property done for the purpose of, or having as its effect to, "hinder, defraud or delay" creditors or potential creditors of the transferor, is fraudulent and can be set aside by a court. However, if the property is sold for a fair price the transaction will not be fraudulent because the creditors remain equally or better protected.