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Can a civil judgment against a person affect there spouse?
Anonymous2 views3 answers
I have a civil judgment against me dated back in 2007 or 2008 . I live in Florida and am aware of the 20 year statute. The question is we want to sell our house. My husband originally wanted to get a loan using the house as collateral and was told that my judgment would cause title insurance issues. There is no lean on the house what so ever. Now we want to just sell the house.The house is in my husband's name only and were told by the realtor that title insurance will be an issue and that we would not receive any money for the house. Is this true? How can this be ? I am the one responsible for the civil judgment not my husband. We need to move on and get out of this town and get a fresh start. Can you explain what the spousal exemption is? Can I use this to protect my husband's assets?
You need to speak with a real estate attorney regarding cleaning up any title issues related to the sale of the house. There are many questions and/or more information that is needed to give guidance on this issue. You should consult with a real estate attorney. Parenthetically, some issues would be 1) Was the house titled in both of your names? What was the basis of the civil judgment? Has homestead been claimed/established in connection with the residence? If so, has the tax exemption (I believe it's at 50k now) related to the value of the residence if it's homestead? Florida has some of the strongest laws (part of the Fla. Constitution) that heavily weigh in favor of the judgment debtor; with certain exceptions. Good luck--but contact an RE attorney.
An ancillary issue is whether the title company wants the judgment lien paid off as part of issuing title insurance (you all are the sellers). If that's part of the title insurance commitment---a requirement as a predicate for issuance, etc. then that could be a problem. I don't practice RE nearly as much as I used to, however, I do know that I was able to clear up "title issues" that title agencies were not able to resolve. This is largely because Title agencies do not always have attorneys on staff and can't venture too far into resolution of these issues as that would constitute the unlicensed practice of law. Good luck.
The judgment creditor should not be able to reach any property held in your husband's name alone or in both of your names jointly. He is not liable to a third party for your individual debts. Period. The judgment creditor is strictly limited to finding assets in your name alone. Consult with an experience family law attorney, or a real esate attorney or an lawyer experience in asset protection.
I agree that the judgment holder cannot access the equity in the home. If the property is homestead and the proceeds are to be used to buy another homestead the proceeds would be exempt.even if you both were on title as husband and wife. Here, I am not unsure how the judgment holder would know if the property was sold to attempt to collect. Consult a real estate attorney to handle the transaction for you.
