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Real Estate lawsuit and judgement liability in TX

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Joker548

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
TX I am in a lawsuit and the gist of the suit is that we had a foundation problem which we had fixed, waited six months to do the cosmetic repairs and then put the house on the market. Soon the cracks started to reappear, smaller but still visible. When we listed the house we stated that we had a problem, fixed it, had and engineers report and a lifetime warranty. The foundation company told me that I must have a water leak and to have it tested. I did and they found no leak. He says that I need to get a second opinion as he feels certain that is the problem. I spend another five hundred dollars and they find that there is no leak. I do not know what to do. I stop showing the house as I really do not know what to do next as my funds are severely limited.
The listing expires and my agent wants to re list. I do and she suggests that we sell it as is and just tell them that there is a problem but we have the warranty. We do not fill out a new disclosure form. My thought is that they would just use the warranty to re level the house and then do their remodeling.
When we get an offer I inform my agent just to be sure to make sure that the buyers know that the visible cracks are not the originals. I tell her in person, by phone, via text and email on multiple occasions. She tells me that she did.
They buyers are self described "experts" in real estate. They are at the house numerous times with contractors as they plan extensive remodeling. They elect not to have it inspected, and they get the loan with nothing more than a "drive by" inspection, whatever that is.
After they close on the house they go to the foundation guy to transfer the warranty and he tells them that they need to go after the builder as he built a bad house. They get buyers remorse and write me a demand letter to buy the house back, plus $30,000 or so in expenses. We felt like we did nothing wrong and we could not have anyway.
A year later I am in a lawsuit where they sue me and both realtors and I am out attorney fees which I cannot afford.
My question is if they are awarded damages with us to pay, can they go after my retirement accounts? We have no real property, no savings (several children in a row in college) only a pension, and each have a 403B.
It is hard for me to believe that we are in this mess at our age, when I sold the house "as is" and informed my realtor to make sure they knew that the cracks were not the originals, yet I am paying high legal fees and face a significant judgment.
Can they go after our 403b funds?
 


justalayman

Senior Member
the first thing I would do is ask the attorney you have hired (I am hoping your statement was simply rhetorical and even though they are expensive you actually hired one) if the RE agent bears any liability in this matter. Given the fiducuary relationship one has with a RE agent, if the agents statements or actions which you relied on resulted in you acting such you have become liable, you may have some action against the agent themselves.


My question is if they are awarded damages with us to pay, can they go after my retirement accounts?

Texas
Property Code § 42.0021(a)

Texas
Property Code § 42.0021(b).

I'm not at all well versed so this is the result of a very quick search on the internet. It showed me that the first law says yes, they are exempt BUT the second law limits the exemption to not include contributions that exceed the amounts deductible under the Internal Revenue Code, and accrued earnings on excess contributions.

along with that, I have found that the assets are protected only while they are in the 403b account. Once distributed they are no longer protected so, if you have the assets paid into some other account, once they hit that account, they are vulnerable.

a concern I did not research on is whether it makes a difference if the judgement is the result of something such as fraud. I do not know if that is a concern in your situation. In situations involving sales such as this, there are simple acts of negligence or ignorance but there are also charges of outright fraud at times as well. If it is, I would suggest looking into that as well.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
the first thing I would do is ask the attorney you have hired (I am hoping your statement was simply rhetorical and even though they are expensive you actually hired one) if the RE agent bears any liability in this matter. Given the fiducuary relationship one has with a RE agent, if the agents statements or actions which you relied on resulted in you acting such you have become liable, you may have some action against the agent themselves.





Texas
Property Code § 42.0021(a)

Texas
Property Code § 42.0021(b).

I'm not at all well versed so this is the result of a very quick search on the internet. It showed me that the first law says yes, they are exempt BUT the second law limits the exemption to not include contributions that exceed the amounts deductible under the Internal Revenue Code, and accrued earnings on excess contributions.

along with that, I have found that the assets are protected only while they are in the 403b account. Once distributed they are no longer protected so, if you have the assets paid into some other account, once they hit that account, they are vulnerable.

a concern I did not research on is whether it makes a difference if the judgement is the result of something such as fraud. I do not know if that is a concern in your situation. In situations involving sales such as this, there are simple acts of negligence or ignorance but there are also charges of outright fraud at times as well. If it is, I would suggest looking into that as well.
Agree with the bolded...even the IRS cannot touch assets in retirement accounts...they can give you tax breaks if you take them out to use them to pay down IRS debt, but they cannot access them.
 

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