First of all, even tho this is my first post, I used to be a regular poster here. It's been a few years and I forgot my user name so I had to start a new account to get in. I have a good credit report because of the great info available on these boards, especially the forms (they were THE most important part of my credit cleaning operation!)

Now, on to my current problem...

I had a very old cc that filed suit against me about 12 years ago. I hired an attorney, who forgot to file my answer, so the CC won by default. They got judgment and filed a lien against my house at the court house. They can't take my house b/c my state has some kind of homestead protection law, but if I ever sell it, they will get paid before I can transfer the deed.

In the meantime, they are racking up interest and other charges to the point they now claim I own about 10 times the amount I owed when the suit was filed (more than the value of the house!).

The SOL was 5 years. They didn't renew. So if I'm correct, the judgment is now expired and noncollectable.

Does anyone know what papers I need to file to get the lien removed? I want to get this cleared up so I can transfer the deed to a land trust or possibly even a land patent.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm willing to do all the paperwork, but I need to find out what paperwork is needed. I usually go to the court house and get samples to copy, but in the case of liens, once the papers are filed and signed by the judge, they go into a sealed file so no copies are available.

If the creditor didn't renew the judgment for some reason -- and they would be unusually sloppy if they had your house as security and failed to do so (but it happens) -- then the lien is invalid. You can file an action to expunge the lien, which may or may not be styled as a complaint to quiet title depending what state you're in.

Better make sure the judgment has expired though -- in California they last 10 years.

As advised by the other poster, the lien has expired and therefore not valid any longer. This does not necessarily that the lien couldn't be revived, but this varies from state to state.

You do not mention what state you are in and this would impact the subject greatly as well as whether your home equity was safe upon a sale of your home, or not.

You mention transferring your property to a land trust. Yep, you can do that but understand that a land trust will not protect your home the way you imply that will. A LT is not a form of asset protection other than from the aspect of privacy that it may offer. In your case by transferring your property to a LT it wouldn't be hard to figure out that you still maintain the Beneficial Interest in the Trust, and that interest is attachable just the same as if you own the home in your name, as you do now. Now, if you were buying that home anew and you placed the title into a LT then it would be possible that a Creditor doesn't know you own the home at all... but, relying on a LT is a terrible approach for asset protection; (that the Trust simply doesn't afford). You should speak to an Atty about this subject before you do some self protection attempt that falls short for you.

Lastly, your approach of cobbling a form at the courthouse is a dangerous approach. This is almost assured of producing less than desireable results. You should spend a few hundred $$$ and get some decent legal advise here before you end up with a bigger problem. All the best in your endeavor, as it seems that you have averted the creditor; (fortunately).

Ahhhhhhh I'm no attorney but my son is a law student at Cornell and he stated this statement you made here if you have proof of that payment and the attorney failed to file an answer that negligence is covered by the attorneys malpractice insurance if you should decide to sue this obviously incompetent legal practitioner. You hired he or she and they failed to file an answer....... that's negligence PERIOD. My son states most would settle this out of court for a very reasonable amount of funds.

I was thinking the same thing.
Unless the Atty was friend or family there is no reason why you would choose to live with this burden.

Thank you everyone who gave advice.

I've checked into holding the attorney responsible for failing to file in time. I've discovered a few things. I do have the canceled check proving I paid him for services. His office holds me responsible for not returning a questionnaire they sent to me asking me to approve the statements they intended to file. It's true that I did not return the paper. I talked to them on the phone and agreed that everything they had written was proper and they would file it as written.

The biggest problem is that no other attorney will take a case against him. I don't have enough knowledge to file myself, and can't afford to hire an out of area attorney to handle it.

I was unaware that an expired lien could be reinstated. I need to get this lien released before someone finds their error and reinstates it.

I've thought about filing quiet title, but now fear the courts would notify the collector of my filing, and they would reinstate the lien. My filing might be the nudge they need to reopen their file and start collection all over again.

I'm still working on trying to figure out the best way to go about clearing this up. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.