[WSBARP] existing judgment against purported purchasers in a likely invalid real estate contract

[Gwendolyn Cornwell]

All,

My client owns a residence.  There is a purported real estate contract signed by my client and the purported purchasers have been living there for 6 years.  No payment was ever made to my client.  The litigation title insurance brought up a judgment against the purported purchasers, also from 2016.  The purported real estate contract was never recorded, but we recently recorded a memorandum of purported real estate contract and a notice of default and intent to forfeit.  The county recorders office website does not show the judgment, but the title company found it.  The judgment creditor is an insurance company.

Is there automatically a lien against my client's property due to the judgment against his purported purchasers pursuant to RCW 4.56.190?  The RCW states:

"The real estate of any judgment debtor, and such as the judgment debtor may acquire, not exempt by law, shall be held and bound to satisfy any judgment of the district court of the United States rendered in this state and any judgment of the supreme court, court of appeals, superior court, or district court of this state, and every such judgment shall be a lien thereupon to commence as provided in RCW 4.56.200<http://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=4.56.200> and to run for a period of not to exceed ten years from the day on which such judgment was entered unless the ten-year period is extended in accordance with RCW 6.17.020<http://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=6.17.020>(3), or unless the judgment results from a criminal sentence for a crime that was committed on or after July 1, 2000, in which case the lien will remain in effect until the judgment is fully satisfied. As used in this chapter, real estate shall not include the vendor's interest under a real estate contract for judgments rendered after August 23, 1983. If a judgment debtor owns real estate, subject to execution, jointly or in common with any other person, the judgment shall be a lien on the interest of the defendant only.  Personal property of the judgment debtor shall be held only from the time it is actually levied upon."

The judgment debtors/purported purchasers did not acquire the real estate, but one could argue that they have/had an interest in it.

Ideas?

Thank you!

Gwendolyn Cornwell
Attorney
GOURLEY LAW GROUP
THE EXCHANGE CONNECTION
SNOHOMISH ESCROW
P.O. Box 1091
Snohomish, WA 98291
PH:  (360) 568-5065 (800) 291-8401
Fax: (360) 568-8092

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