[WSBAPT] Enforceability of Judgment Lien Related to Closing of Sale of Real Property by Estate

[Jay DeMers]

The decedent? has nearly 2 months to live (Ha)  Jay

On Sat, Jul 15, 2017 at 3:44 PM, Douglas Bratt <djbratt at mbavancouverlaw.com>
wrote:

> Hello Listmates:
>
>
>
> We are close to closing a sale of a residence by an Estate.
>
>
>
> Suddenly, I find out about an old judgment.
>
>
>
> The judgment, for just under $20K, was entered in District Court in the
> county in which the Estate-owned real estate is located on September 25,
> 2006.  A Transcript of the District Court Judgment was then filed in the
> Superior Court in the same county on October 19, 2007.  The judgment was
> subsequently recorded on October 22, 2007, with the Auditor of the same
> county.  It is showing up as an exception on a Title Policy Commitment, and
> the escrow closer is in the midst of making inquiry about a payoff figure
> for the judgment from the Judgment Creditor’s Attorney.
>
>
>
> As I understand the law related to judgments, the judgment is enforceable
> for ten years after entry, but that period can be extended an additional
> ten years by petitioning the court that entered the judgment within 90 days
> of the expiration of the original ten years.
>
>
>
> However, sadly, I find that under RCW 6.17.020(3), if a District Court
> judgment has been transcribed to the Superior Court, the petition is not to
> be filed in District Court, and thus be tied to the ten year anniversary of
> the entry of the District Court Judgment. Rather, the Petition to extend is
> to be filed in the Superior Court and the Petition must be filed within 90
> days of the expiration of the ten year period after the date the transcript
> of judgment was filed in *the Superior Court*, not the District Court.
> So, even though relating back to the original date of the District Court
> judgment would have been supremely helpful, the statute means that the
> Judgment Creditor would have until October 19, 2017, to file the Petition
> to extend the judgment.
>
>
>
> The Decedent died on September 3, 2017. The first date of publication of
> the Notice to Creditors took place on October 7, 2016.  Thus, the
> four-month period for Creditor’s Claims expired on February 7, 2017.  The
> Judgment Creditor did not file a Creditor’s Claim. In addition, the PR
> found no evidence of the judgment when making the PR’s reasonable search to
> ascertain the identity of Creditors to determine which creditors, if any,
> were to get actual notice.  However, I am not thinking that of the Judgment
> Creditor to file a Creditor’s Claim in the probate will defeat the lien of
> judgment on the real estate owned by the Decedent.
>
>
>
> My initial conclusion is that we are SOL on trying to escape liability on
> the judgment, due to the fact that the lien of judgment attaches to the
> real estate of the judgment debtor, and it does not appear that the
> judgment debtor’s death nor any defenses under the Creditor’s Claim statute
> will help us in escaping the effect of the judgment, with the real estate
> closing becoming the means of collection for the Judgment Creditor.
>
>
>
> Any contrary thoughts about the possibility of escaping liability on this
> judgment?
>
>
>
> Thank you for your collective knowledge.
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
>
>
> Doug Bratt
>
>
>
> Douglas J. Bratt
>
> Lawyer
>
>
>
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