Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Kentucky

Buying property with judgment liens

We are trying to buy some land and when we did the title search it revealed 3 judgment liens from defaulted credit card bills. We are going to try to resolve the liens for a lesser amount and go ahead and buy the property. The seller is in the process of filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy and if we can't buy this land before July 1 then it goes into bankruptcy. We got it for such a low price that we are willing to pay the liens. Since we are under a time crunch we are wondering about buying the property with the liens and resolving it after we purchase. My question is this, can property be sold that has judgment liens against it?

Thank you in advance for any help or information.


Asked on 6/18/03, 10:16 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Philip Owens Philip M. Owens, Attorney at Law

Re: Buying property with judgment liens

normally this type of thing is handled at the closing. You pay the normal purchase price and the liens and costs are paid out of that so that you can get a clear title. What concerns me is that the seller is getting rid of the land and is in the process of filing a bankruptcy proceeding. You should seek the direct advice of your own attorney so that the bankruptcy proceeding will not interfere with your purchase. There is always the possibility that you could pay for the land and wake up and find the bankruptcy trustee trying to get the land back to put in the estate to pay the bills. This is not a "do it yourself" project. If the bankruptcy was not involved or contemplated, the closing would take care of liens and mortgages, etc. I hope that you had an attorney check the title and did not try to determine the quality of title yourself. There is more to it than the discovery of liens and mortgages. This is also no a "do it yourself" project.

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Answered on 6/18/03, 6:59 pm


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