Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Massachusetts

A little more information is needed to answer the question accurately, but generally a homestead is not revoked when you refinance a home. There was a brief period when a homestead was required to be revoked in order to refinance. Easiest way to handle this is to check on-line at the registry of deeds for your property to see if the homestead is recorded and that you never revoked it.

Otherwise, call an attorney to check this for you.

If you have more than the $500,000 in equity and a valid homestead exemption, they cannot force the sale of the home depending upon a variety of factors such as it was not used for exceptions to the homestead exemption.

Regardless, I would contact an attorney in your area to see what your options are to deal with this.

Barbara,

It's unfortunate that the creditor has been allowed to get to this point, but you still have options. A couple important points: A homestead declaration will not prevent creditors from placing liens on your property. Those liens will need to be satisfied before you will be able to sell, transfer, or refinance the property. Secondly, in the absence of a valid homestead declaration, a creditor would have the power to order the sale of a home in order to satisfy the judgment/lien.

There is still time to negotiate with your creditor, settle this judgment debt, and have all liens and judgments removed from your name and property. Please feel free to contact my office if you would like some assistance. I recently assisted a client in your exact situation with fantastic results.