Menlo Park, CA Bankruptcy Law Firms & Lawyers

It stays forever but the underlying judgment is valid for 10 years and renewable over and over again forever. Therefore, so long as the judgment is valid then the lien is valid. Once the judgment expires (not renewed) then the lien will remain but will not be valid so it may have to be removed by a court order. The Chapter 7 case does not remove the lien. The bankruptcy discharge makes the judgment legally unenforceable. A motion to void the lien needs to be filed in the bankrutpcy case and a court order obtained voiding the lien and then the order voiding the lien must be recorded. Otherwise, the lien will continue to cloud the title to the property forever and you will not be able to refinance and sell the house because the title company will require removal of the lien. Do it now while in Chapter 7 or you will regret it because it will cost you a lot more to remove the lien later and will take a lot longer.

If you file a chapter 13, a creditor of one of your co-debtors cannot try to collect from the co-debtor. If your chapter 13 plan is approved, creditors cannot sue, but have to be paid through the plan.

You should list the amount of cash on hand as $100.00. You should NOT file your petition until the check clears the bank. If you do file before the check clears the bank, you should show the full amount as on deposit in your checking account and exempt it. If you cannot exempt it, you need to wait to file.