Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

I am a painting Contractor. My client did not pay for work completed. I took him to small claims and won. He still never paid. I took out a lien on his home. His house went into foreclosure and the real estate agent said she can not honor the lien since it went into foreclosure and that all his debts are wiped out? She is offering 1/2 the amount of which the court awarded me. This seems odd that because this client cant pay his bills all other leins are wiped out because his house went into foreclosure.

Thanks for any feed back/help. I live in Ca.

thanks again

Sincerely,

Kenny


Asked on 3/20/12, 8:05 am

3 Answers from Attorneys

Joel Selik www.SelikLaw.com

Your judgment remains even after foreclosure. If the house is foreclosed and has no equity, you would get noting, but you can still go after other assets, income of the debtor (unless he files bankruptcy). It might be worth accepting half, you need to get more information from the agent as to what being sold for, equity, etc.

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Answered on 3/20/12, 8:55 am
Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

Foreclosure doesn't "wipe out" all debts. A foreclosure by trustee's sale usually wipes out the debt secured by the particular deed of trust being foreclosed, and can also turn other junior liens into unsecured obligations. So, it's more accurate to say the foreclosure wipes out your collateral, but before even concluding this you might want to contact the foreclosure trustee to get a recap of who got paid. More lilkely than not htere wasn't enough money from the sale to pay you, but it's worth asking. You remain an unsecured creditor. Whether to accept 50% is a business decision for you.

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Answered on 3/20/12, 8:57 am
Anthony Roach Law Office of Anthony A. Roach

I agree with Mr. Whipple. The foreclosure wipes out your lien on that particular property. The reason for this is that the foreclosure conveys title as it stood at the time the deed of trust was executed, which was prior to your recorded abstract of judgment. It sounds as though there are excess proceeds from the foreclosure sale, which may only partially cover your judgment.

But your judgment itself is not wiped out, and would attach any property the judgment debtor purchased in the county where it was recorded.

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Answered on 3/20/12, 10:10 am


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