Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Pennsylvania

yes

The short answer is yes, but there is so much information that you do not tell me. For example, how is the property owned? By you solely? Or by you and your spouse as husband and wife? If you don't know, get a copy of the deed from the recorder of deeds' office in the county where the land is located. Its important - if the judgment is against you only and you own the house with your spouse then the creditor cannot make you sell your home because one spouse is not liable for the credit card debts of the other spouse. Of course, this only works if the judgment is just against one of you, not both.

Judgments act as a lien on real property automatically. So if the creditor has a judgment they have a lien. What that means is that you will not be able to refinance your home or sell it without taking care of the judgment. Even if you are married, what would happen is that as soon as you sold or refi'd, the lien would attach to your share of the equity in the house.

Can they make you sell your house? It depends on the value of the equity in the home. There is no homestead of any amount in PA. However, if you have negative equity/no equity or very little, there is nothing to sell. If you have substantial equity, then the creditor could in theory make you sell your home. However, if you had that much equity, it would be easier to refinance your home and pay of the existing judgment. Also, if a sale of yuor home were threatened, you could always file bankruptcy and the federal exemptions do have a homestead allowance of up to $15,000 or so in equity in a home (I am not a bankruptcy attorney and have not checked the federal bankruptcy exemptions lately so the may have been increased).

The judgment earns interest at a rate of 6% per year. Interest accrues on a daily basis and I don't know when exactly the judgment was entered. All of this means that you need to think about resolving this in some way. Unless you have other debts, then I would not consider filing bankruptcy. Depending on your circumstances, I would possibly do nothing or try to save up money to eventually get this resolved.

If you are interested in resolving this debt in a non-bankruptcy context, I can help. Please contact me at [email protected] if interested.