how judgment liens work
if you owe money to a creditor and don t pay they may sue you for the balance if the court rules against you the creditor can file a judgment lien against you a judgment lien is considered a nonconsensual lien because it is attached to a piece of property without the owner s consent or agreement a plaintiff who obtains a judgment is referred to as a judgment creditor while the defendant becomes a judgment debtor in most states the judgment creditor must record the lien via a county or state filing in a few states if a court enters a judgment against a debtor a lien is automatically created on any real estate the debtor owns in that county once a judgment lien is filed with the appropriate authority it becomes attached to the debtor s personal or real property personal property refers to assets such as cars appliances or furniture real property on the other hand refers to things like homes and other buildings or land the property must be registered in the debtor s name so if they have a debt that goes unpaid the judgment lien cannot be attached to their spouse s property if they do not own any property at the time the lien is filed it can be attached to any future acquisitions provided the lien doesn t expire in the meantime one drawback of liens on personal property is that a large portion of someone s personal property has no title therefore liens are not officially recorded against that property and it could be sold off to a third party who is unaware of the lien s existence judgment liens do not appear on an individual s credit reports according to the credit bureau experian 