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

[Douglas Bratt]

Absolutely, Josh.  There is no question about that, so says the title company (although they needn’t have told me, since I knew it would be that way).


From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com [mailto:wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com] On Behalf Of Josh Grant
Sent: Monday, July 17, 2017 11:34 AM
To: WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv
Subject: Re: [WSBAPT] Enforceability of Judgment Lien Related to Closing of Sale of Real Property by Estate

The judgment must be paid at closing or no sale.

From: Douglas Bratt<mailto:djbratt at mbavancouverlaw.com>
Sent: Saturday, July 15, 2017 3:44 PM
To: wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com<mailto:wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Subject: [WSBAPT] Enforceability of Judgment Lien Related to Closing of Sale of Real Property by Estate

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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