Refinancing with Judgement Question

[mike3]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Missouri

Hello, and let me apologize for the lengthy description.

My situation is this:

I currently own a home that I purchased in 2007. I am in the process of attempting to refinance. During the title search process an old judgment has come up which was issued in 1994, however there is no lien against my home, as per my county Circuit Clerk's office.
This judgment was a personal judgment from an individual, not a credit card company etc., which has made no effort to collect nor renew the judgment. I believe the statute of limitations has expired if I'm not mistaken. (10 years?)

Add to this, I had a no asset Chapter 7 bankruptcy which was discharged in 2005. Unfortunately, I did not list this judgment in the docs as I had long since forgotten about it.
Contacting my original bankruptcy attorney is not an option.

My dilemma... the title company says they need a "voidance of lien"? Some sort of proof that this judgment is no longer valid, otherwise they believe they will have to satisfy the judgment at closing, which will likely make my refinance impossible.

How do I go about proving that this judgment is no longer valid?
Re-opening my bankruptcy case would be quite expensive and not financially feasible for me at this time, and I feel the SOL should be sufficient.

I would greatly appreciate any assistance you can offer. Time is running out for me.

 

[JETX]

How do I go about proving that this judgment is no longer valid?

You can contact the court and see if they will provide some type of documentation, but it is unlikely that they will.
You can also contact a local attorney who could research the issue for you and provide a letter as to the validity of the lien.

Of course, since we have no idea what exactly the lender is looking for, it is possible that neither of the above would work.

Why not ask the lender what it will take to show that the lien is no longer valid??

 

[mike3]

Thanks for your reply JETX, much appreciated.

Unfortunately all the information I can get out of the title company (2nd hand through mortgage company) is that they need a "voidance of lien". Clear as mud to me.

Obviously, there is no lien. The county has verified this.

I'm in the process of verifying whether or not a letter drafted by an attorney citing case law, and the lack of validity of the judgment, will suffice.

I was just looking for anyone who had possibly dealt with a similar situation, and what they might advise.

Thank you again.
Mike

 

[JETX]

I can say this... if you were MY client on this issue, I would simply:

1) Get a copy of the original judgment showing the date rendered, and

2) Get a copy of the original judgment case file showing that there have not been any renewals or supplemental actions on the judgment.

Once I have both of the above, I would present the case records to them with and refer them to the following Missouri Revised Statute:
516.350. 1. Every judgment, order or decree of any court of record of the United States, or of this or any other state, territory or country, except for any judgment, order, or decree awarding child support or maintenance or dividing pension, retirement, life insurance, or other employee benefits in connection with a dissolution of marriage, legal separation or annulment which mandates the making of payments over a period of time or payments in the future, shall be presumed to be paid and satisfied after the expiration of ten years from the date of the original rendition thereof, or if the same has been revived upon personal service duly had upon the defendant or defendants therein, then after ten years from and after such revival, or in case a payment has been made on such judgment, order or decree, and duly entered upon the record thereof, after the expiration of ten years from the last payment so made, and after the expiration of ten years from the date of the original rendition or revival upon personal service, or from the date of the last payment, such judgment shall be conclusively presumed to be paid, and no execution, order or process shall issue thereon, nor shall any suit be brought, had or maintained thereon for any purpose whatever. An action to emancipate a child, and any personal service or order rendered thereon, shall not act to revive the support order.

Another option would be to contact the original court (and again referring to the above statute), ask the court to provide a release/satisfaction of judgment to remove the lien entirely.

 

[nextwife]

In addition to what JETX said, if your OWNERS POLICY of Title insurance did not take exception to that judgment, you are insured against loss due to it. Likely the title provider you used to obtain your owners policy when you bought can indemnify the refi title company to get this thing closed promptly.

 

[xylene]

Or it is possible, even probable, that the refinancing company / bank / morgage firm is being hyper-vigilant owing to the tight regulatory climate and they are not only dotting i's and crossing t's but crossing i's and dotting t's

 

[mike3]

JETX... nextwife...

Thank you both very much. I am amazed at the amount of assistance you have both provided. You have definitely shed new light on this for me. I feel I might actually be able to move forward with this. I will let you know how this turns out, hopefully it may assist someone in the future.

Again, thank you both very much.

 

[mike3]

On a side note... I spoke with a local attorney by phone today who offered to draft a letter citing case law, statutes etc. which should point out the lack of validity of the judgment, for $100.
Without stepping on toes, does this sound reasonable?

Thanks again.

 

[xylene]

On a side note... I spoke with a local attorney by phone today who offered to draft a letter citing case law, statutes etc. which should point out the lack of validity of the judgment, for $100.
Without stepping on toes, does this sound reasonable?

Thanks again.

That is a sound first step.

I am not a law professional, but I am intimately familiar wiht what is going on in mortgage today.

Sound case law and legal citations are a good start, but they won't alone change the situation if the bank is committed to making a mistake - ie they won't easily back pedal from an decision, even an erroneous one because of the tremendous and burdensome new 'post bubble' regualtions and fines they fear if they make a sloppy underwriting mistake... which in turn drives mistakes that ding otherwise qualified consumers.