Judgement Lines from Unsecured Creditors

[TITUS00]

Do judgement liens from unsecured creditors against my home that is titled in both my wife and my name in New Jersey get taken off when filing a chapter 7?

[keepmine]

Not automatically. Your lawyer will have to follow whatever process your state has to get the underlying judgment vacated and then the judical lein can be stripped using 522{f} of the code.

http://doney.net/bkcode/11usc0522.htm

A little long for a copy and paste but you can use the link to scroll to section f.

No personal experience with thisbut, at my intake interview this was a question mylawyers para asked-"do you have a lein against your home from a judgment involving an unsecured creditor". {or words to that affect}. I didn't but out of cursoity asked how that was handled and that was her response.

[justbroke]

Do judgement liens from unsecured creditors against my home that is titled in both my wife and my name in New Jersey get taken off when filing a chapter 7?

Was this property conveyed to both of you as husband and wife, at the time that you acquired it? If so, and depending on whether you changed the language on the issues Deed/Title, you may have a tenancy by the entirety (TBE). That would protect you.

As started above, you would need to do some work. First you'd have to exempt the property in its entirety on Schedule C as a TBE (and citing relevant NJ law allowing such). You would also need to file a Motion to Avoid Lien asking the court to quash the lien because it impairs an exemption under 11 USC 522, which is the part of the bankruptcy code on exemptions.

After you're successful in the BK court with getting the Motion granted, you then need to file it with the Court that issued the judgment lien to get that voided.

If you don't do these things... that pesky lien will still be recorded and give you much trouble in the future.

[TITUS00]

Was this property conveyed to both of you as husband and wife, at the time that you acquired it? If so, and depending on whether you changed the language on the issues Deed/Title, you may have a tenancy by the entirety (TBE). That would protect you.

As started above, you would need to do some work. First you'd have to exempt the property in its entirety on Schedule C as a TBE (and citing relevant NJ law allowing such). You would also need to file a Motion to Avoid Lien asking the court to quash the lien because it impairs an exemption under 11 USC 522, which is the part of the bankruptcy code on exemptions.

After you're successful in the BK court with getting the Motion granted, you then need to file it with the Court that issued the judgment lien to get that voided.

If you don't do these things... that pesky lien will still be recorded and give you much trouble in the future.

When we purchased the property we were married and according to tax records both are names are associated with the property. Does anything change if just my name is on the first and second mortgages?

[justbroke]

When we purchased the property we were married and according to tax records both are names are associated with the property. Does anything change if just my name is on the first and second mortgages?

It would only matter if only your name was on the Deed/Title. The mortgage wouldn't matter. If both of your names are on the title as "husband and wife" and doesn't have additional text to destroy the TBE, such as a "tenancy in common" or some other distinction in the title... I think you're covered.