Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Virginia

Re: Lien on Real Estate Property

Your first task should be to determine whether the lien is still valid. If it was recorded in 1993 as a result of a judgment handed down by a Virginia General District Court, it would be valid until some date in 2003 unless it was renewed for another ten. If the lien holder went out of business in 1998, it's possible that the lien in fact was not renewed and therefore is no longer legally valid(having issued in 1993) and a motion filed with the court for its removal from the record should suffice to have it extinguished.

However, if the lien issued out of a circuit court, it would retain its validity for twenty years with an option to renew for another twenty.

If that were the case, then you face the daunting prospect of continuing your attempts to locate the sucessor company or individual who would be entitled to the payoff.

Re: Lien on Real Estate Property

Unfortunately the judgment was most likely rendered in Circuit Court which means that the Judgment is good for 20 years. It is unclear to me whether the defendant was the person who gifted the property to you or a prior owner who sold the property to whomever then gifted it to you. If it was a prior owner you may have a way out by contacting the title company which handled the closing. They would have probably resolved the title issue by the time of settlement. If the judgment belongs to the person who gifted it to you then you are stuck unless you can find the creditor. You said that the Bank went out of business... keep in mind that often banks are acquired by other financial institutions and therefore the acquiring bank will still be able to help you out. There is also another scenario: are you 100% sure that the judgment is against the prior owner? what certainty do you have? Many times it is only a case of similar names. I suggest that you do more research especially if you can go back to the title company.

Good luck