Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Maryland

Re: Following Up On A Lien Placed on Property As A Result of Civil Judgement

You have asked a lot of questions. I will try to answer them all, but if I forget something (or you would like additional information) give me a call.

First, if a lien was placed on the property, you should get notification if the ownership of the property has changed. That means that if it was foreclosed upon, you should have received notice as an interested person when the foreclosure was filed with the Court (long before the sale). More importantly, if there were sufficient proceeds, you should have received money before the owner of the property did. Whether you would have received some money depends on when your judgment was recorded as a lien, when other liens were recorded, and how much money was realized at the foreclosure sale.

If the owner tried to refinance, it is possible that you would receive satisfaction of your judgment as part of that transaction because lenders do not like to have to satisfy judgment debts before they can recover the money they lend if they have to foreclose on the property.

If the owner tried to sell the property, the settlement agent should have contacted you to find out how much is currently needed to satify the judgment (in case you have received partial payment and to determine what interest may have accrued on the judgment) and sent you a check before allowing the title to the property to be transferred.

In light of all of that, since you haven't heard anything (assuming that you have not moved), it is unlikely that the property has been foreclosed on, that the property has been refinanced, or that the property has been sold. If the lien was recorded less than twelve years ago (according to your question, you are well within that timeframe) and you have not filed a satisfaction of judgment (which you wouldn't have done until you received full payment), the lien should still be in place. However, you should inquire of the recorder of deeds in the County in which the lien was entered, to be sure that there has not been some administrative error.

There are, however, other ways to go about collecting on your judgment. You can have the Sheriff seize and sell personal property of value; you can garnish funds held in the debtor's name at a bank (with some exceptions); or you can garnish the debtor's wages. You should be able to get forms from the Clerk's Office in the Courthouse, but that are not allowed to help you fill them out or to give you any advice about how you can proceed.

The hardest part is obtaining specific enough information about what assets the debtor has, but the Court does permit you to send Interrogatories to the debtor regarding his/her assets or to question the debtor on those issues at the Courthouse. Again, the Clerk's office can assist you with any forms but cannot provide any advice.

Like I said, if you still have questions, I'd be happy to answer them more specifically. Give me a call and we can go over your options.