Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Texas

Re: Trying to sell our home

If there are abstracts of judgment filed against you, it is no longer a question of settlement. The nursing home and credit card sued your husband and you, and the judge or jury found for them, and they now have enforcible judgments against you, which they have recorded in the land records. The cases are over, and it's too late to settle, unless you are appealing. You simply must pay off the judgments when you sell the home. It doesn't stop you from selling, it just dictates where the money from the sale will go.

Depending on the amounts involved, the proceeds of the sale may go first to your mortgage company, then whatever's left over to the judgment creditors, first in time, first in right, then you would get whatever's left, if any. If the proceeds are not sufficient to pay one or more of these creditors completely, then you still owe them. But at least you got the house off your hands, and you no longer need to pay property taxes and maintenance. Hopefully the proceeds will at least cover the balance of your mortgage, so you'll no longer have the mortgage payment either.