Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Illinois

Re: lien on home

This is very similar to a question I answered earlier today (hopefully you're not the person who loaned the money to the last questioner I advised). Anyway, there are a couple of ways that liens commonly result from this type of situation. First, if the borrower(s) signed a mortgage (which is a lien). It doesn't appear that this was done here, however.

Secondly, a lien could result from you suing the borrower(s), winning and then recording a "memorandum of judgment" in a county (which then becomes a lien against all the real estate the borrower(s) own(s) in that county). This may not be as difficult as it seems since in my experience, many people simply ignore court papers (complaint and summons) they receive. So if you sue and they ignore it, it will be relatively simple to get a "default judgment" against the borrower(s).

If the borrower(s) do(es) not ignore the court papers, you will have to prove your case in court. If there's no written document, that might be tough (but not impossible). At that point, it would come down to your word against his (or hers). Of course, if you have ANY evidence besides a "note", you should present it to the court. You may even be able to present "hearsay", which is evidence such as "this other person heard the borrower(s) admit they owed the money", since there's a hearsay exception for "statements against interest" of the borrower. Or perhaps someone (hopefully impartial) witnessed the "handshake" deal.

Good luck!

Re: lien on home

From your question, I assume that no note and mortgage was signed. So, if you want to create a lien against the property, you will have to bring a law suit against the borrower. When you get a judgment, whether by default or trial, you can file the appropriate documents in the chain of title.