personal lien

[Taxing Matters]

for example, lets say i dont pay a $1000 bill from company ABC, and they do whatever is normal in terms of placing a lien on me

does that give them the right to collect $1000 when i sell a property ?

In other words ABC sues you and gets a judgment, and then records that judgement against you in the county were the property is located. That does indeed become a lien that attaches your real estate and the judgment creditor would be entitled to assert its claim to get paid when you sell, assuming that there is money over and above your homestead exemption on the property, if any.

 

[quincy]

maybe a simpler way for me to ask my question is this

if someone were to place a lien on me, do they have the legal right to that claim when i sell a piece of real estate ?

for example, lets say i dont pay a $1000 bill from company ABC, and they do whatever is normal in terms of placing a lien on me

does that give them the right to collect $1000 when i sell a property ?

if so, that is putting my lender in 2nd position. if not, then title has no reason to do the search in the first place

If you do not pay company ABC, company ABC can sue you and obtain a judgment against you for the amount owing. To satisfy the judgment, company ABC can seek to place a lien on your property.

There are several different types of liens but the first lien takes precedence.

If you take out a mortgage loan to purchase property, the mortgage loan will be paid off first when you sell your property, even if other liens have been placed against your property later.

 

[TrustUser]

thanks tm and quincy,

so if the lien from abc company was attached to real property, would it have appeared on the preliminary title report ?

many things did appear, but nothing that needed to be corrected.

 

[TrustUser]

hi tm,

have you ever had to help someone who had their ss stolen ? i have heard about several cases in which it took 10 years or more, for things to be resolved - just destroying the person who had to deal with it. so i am extremely cautious in that area.

 

[TrustUser]

like i stated, i have been involved in MANY real estate trx. NEVER have i had to give my ss to title.

 

[TrustUser]

my first name is extremely common, but not my last. so it is at least with some degree of normalcy that this is the first time that title came across a multitude of items with my name on it ?

 

[quincy]

my first name is extremely common, but not my last. so it is at least with some degree of normalcy that this is the first time that title came across a multitude of items with my name on it ?

The reason a title company or lender wants your social security number is because many people share the same name but a social security number identifies just one person (or at least, should ).

If you ever run a regular name-only background check on yourself (one without finger prints or a social security number), you might be surprised to see a criminal history showing up. These background checks regularly include offenses committed by people who share your name.

Privacy laws now protect against the publication of full social security numbers, requiring that there is no more than the last four digits appearing on documents. The same laws apply to credit card and bank account numbers. This works to prevent identity theft.

You are smart to guard your social security number. You do not want to give it out indiscriminately. You need to trust the ones who request your number.

 

[zddoodah]

if someone were to place a lien on me, do they have the legal right to that claim when i sell a piece of real estate ?

Depends on what the lien and underlying documentation say and what the relevant law is. Also, it is not possible for "someone . . . to place a lien on" a person. Liens are placed on property. If "someone" (who?) is placing a lien against property of yours (why?), then the lien attaches to whatever it says, subject to the applicable law.

for example, lets say i dont pay a $1000 bill from company ABC, and they do whatever is normal in terms of placing a lien on me

does that give them the right to collect $1000 when i sell a property ?

As a general matter, when a debtor fails to pay a debt owed to a creditor, the creditor has no right to place a lien against anything. In order for a creditor to place a lien against some or all of the debtor's property, one of three things must happen: (1) the debtor must agree to it as part of initial purchase or loan or other transaction, (2) there must be a law expressly giving the creditor the right to a lien (e.g., mechanic's lien law) or (3) the creditor must sue and either obtain a judgment or a pre-judgment attachment and either perfect the judgment (by recording an abstract of judgment and/or filing a J-1 with the CA Secretary of State or by serving an attachment levy).

if so, that is putting my lender in 2nd position. if not, then title has no reason to do the search in the first place

Most lenders are not going to give a loan if they're going end up behind anything other than an existing mortgage/deed of trust.

if the lien from abc company was attached to real property, would it have appeared on the preliminary title report ?

It should...if the title examiner does his/her job correctly.

 

[quincy]

TrustUser, here is a link to an article written by David Gorton and published in Investopedia that discusses the various type of liens and what they mean (provided for informational purposes only):

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/credit-loans-mortgages/090816/it-bad-have-lien-your-house.asp

 

[Taxing Matters]

thanks tm and quincy,

so if the lien from abc company was attached to real property, would it have appeared on the preliminary title report ?

Assuming the title company spotted the lien, then yes, the title company would put that on the title report.

have you ever had to help someone who had their ss stolen ? i have heard about several cases in which it took 10 years or more, for things to be resolved - just destroying the person who had to deal with it. so i am extremely cautious in that area.

There are some horror stories out there, certainly. But understand that such cases are not at all common and most of them would be avoided by some common sense care with safeguarding their SSN, like avoiding phishing scams, etc. Giving out your SSN to a legitimate firm for a valid purpose is not something that generally poses much risk of ID theft. There is always risk in most anything we do. You can't completely avoid it and taking extreme measures to do so may end up costing worthwhile things for not much extra security.

 

[quincy]

Here is another link from the Social Security Administration where you can download a social security information publication, "Identity Theft and Your Social Security Number (05-10064):

https://oig.ssa.gov/report-fraud-waste-or-abuse/reporting-other-issues/identity-theft

It is possible, by the way, to get a new social security number if you are a victim of identity theft.

 

[Zigner]

It is possible, by the way, to get a new social security number if you are a victim of identity theft.

I did it before it was fashionable
(early '90's)

 

[quincy]

I did it before it was fashionable
(early '90's)

I always figured you for a trend setter. Haha.

 

[Zigner]

I don't think it's that easy to do (then or now). In my case, my social security number was used by somebody for employment, so I was getting credit for wages that weren't mine. I've always said that the government moves quickly when it might cost them money...

 

[TrustUser]

i have never heard of getting a new social. but i figured that is what the horror cases ended up having to do, once they got their credit back established.