Is this legal?
Four months ago a man I have a judgement lien against died from injuries from a car accident. His estate was never opened and I now find out that his property that I have a lien against was quit claim deeded to his sister. This was recorded 2 days after he died. I have opened his estate but because the property was quit claimed, there is no other
estate. Can siblings do this to prevent creditors from coming in and taking what is owed them even if there are liens against the property? Can I foreclose on this property to get my judgement?
Re: Is this legal?
I need to make some assumptions in this response.
1. I assume your judgment [i] was properly entered by a court having jurisdiction, and [ii] has not been barred by the running of the applicable statute of limitations.
2. I assume your judgment lien has been properly perfected, ie, the transcript of judgment was timely recorded in the county in which the real estate is located.
Based on the above, you can foreclose on your judgment lien. All grantees in the chain of title who appear subsequent to your judgment lien take subject to your lien, and therefore, will be foreclosed out by your foreclosure.
The above opinion is subject to the assumptions stated. The above ignores a couple of other issues raised by your inquiry; those being: [i] the law of fraudulent transfers, and [ii] the validity of the quit claim conveyance.
If the above assumptions are not valid, you may still prevail on one of these other theories.
Roger Johnson
Roger D. Johnson, P.C.
3705 Kipling St., Suite 208
Wheat Ridge, CO 80033-5792