Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in New Jersey

Are Real Estate Leins automatic?

While looking at buying some real estate in NJ, my lawyer discovered some unsettled civil judgements from the late 90's. These judgements did not show up when the mortgage company ran my credit report.

In the past I have obtained a civil judgement against ex business partners, and I was told at that time that just because I had received a judgement from the court, it wasn't automatically placed as a lein against their real estate, and that there was another lengthy process to get the civil judgement converted to a lein on the real property.

I'm confused. Is the judgement automatically attached to any real property owned, or isn't it? And if it is, wouldn't it be applied to real estate that I've bought in other states besides NJ?

Thanks for your input.

--name removed--Niederhelman


Asked on 10/11/05, 11:49 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert Davies The Davies Law Firm, P.A.

Re: Are Real Estate Leins automatic?

Many years ago, money judgments in Superior Court were automatically recorded as a lien on real estate. Now, it is a short and simple filing to convert a money judgment into a lien on real estate. Any attorney who handles this type of law could do it for you very quickly and easily. You might be able to do it yourself, but I think the modest cost is worth hiring a lawyer to make sure it is correctly done.

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Answered on 10/11/05, 11:56 am


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