Knowledge base
How a public record answers an enforcement question, and where it stops. Written for the person deciding whether a filing is worth its own cost, not for a search engine.
Finding what a debtor owns8 pieces
Real property, entities, vehicles, aircraft, vessels, accounts and wages: what the public record shows of each, and what it never shows.
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Bank accounts and the public record: what the law protects and the lawful routes after judgment
The law treats a bank account as the bank's to protect, makes pretexting a federal crime, and opens the account only through a court's process after judgment. Coverage is New York and Florida and the federal privacy...
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Vehicles, the DMV, and the Driver's Privacy Protection Act: who may ask a state what a debtor drives
A federal law closes state motor vehicle records by default and lists the uses that reopen them. Judgment enforcement is on that list, as a permission, not a right.
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Land trusts and revocable trusts on the deed: reading a deed that names a trustee
The deed names a trustee, not your debtor. What that means depends on which of three trusts it is, and the record usually stops at the trustee's name.
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How a roll writes owners: spouses, life estates, estates and heirs, and what the abbreviations mean for a creditor
The owner line on a tax roll copies recorded deeds and shortens them. What those few letters point to, how title is held, is what decides whose creditors can reach the property.
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Aircraft are public, vessels are their own question: finding a plane or a boat in the federal registers
Where to look for a plane or a boat, and under whose rules. The FAA publishes its aircraft registry for download; vessels run through the Coast Guard and the states, and this page states only what the regulations...
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What a property roll shows about ownership
The roll is a tax record whose owner field is fed daily from the recorder under Fla. Stat. 695.22. Four ordinary ways it and the title come apart.
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Entities and officers behind a name
A parcel held by a company returns the company. The land records give you one human being, in the acknowledgment, and Fla. Stat. 695.25 says what that block must contain.
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A co-op is not real property
A docketed money judgment reaches real property. Co-operative shares and a proprietary lease are personal property, so it reaches nothing. Why ACRIS holds co-op filings anyway, and why they run 50 years instead of five.
What is already claimed against it16 pieces
Mortgages and their satisfactions, tax liens of every level, municipal and association liens, UCC filings, lis pendens, and which claims survive a sale.
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Unpaid property tax comes before everyone: why a Florida tax lien outranks an older mortgage
In Florida, property tax is a first lien superior to all other liens from January 1 of the year it is levied. That is why this year's tax outranks a mortgage recorded years earlier.
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The lender has a deadline to record a satisfaction: why a paid mortgage can still show as open
A paid mortgage can sit on the record as open because the recorded release never got filed. New York and Florida set deadlines for that filing, and penalties for missing it. This page is not legal advice.
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When the county sells for taxes: your lien and the surplus, in Florida
A Florida tax deed cuts off most liens, but a sale above the tax debt leaves a surplus the clerk holds and distributes by priority. What a judgment creditor can claim, and by when.
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Which liens survive a foreclosure or an execution sale: who gets cut off, who gets paid, and what the buyer takes
When a senior lender forecloses, a junior lien is not simply erased. What the statutes settle is who must be named, what the deed bars, and who claims the surplus. The rest is case law.
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Assignments and the record: why the lender on record changed, and who can satisfy the mortgage
The name on a recorded mortgage is not always whoever owns the loan today. What New York and Florida law provide about assignments, the record, and who signs the discharge.
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Code enforcement and municipal liens: which city charges become liens, and which come ahead of a buyer or creditor
How a Florida code enforcement fine becomes a lien, where municipal charges are and are not recorded, and which of them outrank what a buyer or creditor already holds.
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Condominium and homeowners association liens: can an HOA lien come ahead of a mortgage?
When an association lien for unpaid assessments can rank ahead of a first mortgage, and when it cannot. Nevada's slice, Minnesota's survival, and Florida's cap, with the dates that decide each.
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Child support warrants and liens: what a support debt looks like on the record
How past-due child support sits on the record as a lien, how long it lasts in several states, how New York collects it, and why a bankruptcy discharge does not end it.
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What a recorded notice of pendency does to later buyers and lienholders
A lis pendens, or notice of pendency, warns everyone who comes after that a lawsuit could bind them. This page covers New York and Florida, and only those two.
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A credit line mortgage records a ceiling, not a balance: what $500,000 on the deed actually means
A recorded credit line mortgage states a maximum the debt may reach, not the amount owed today. What the stated figure fixes in New York and Florida, and what only the lender can tell you.
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Why a paid-off mortgage still shows up
A satisfaction is a separate recorded document, and in a block-index county the mortgage record need not say it exists. What that does to a total, and how to check one.
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State tax warrants as senior claims
A docketed warrant looks like a judgment and is deemed to be one. For the franchise taxes the lien attaches from the date the return was due, which is not on the document.
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Federal tax liens, and the date that is not on them
A federal tax lien attaches everything from the date of assessment, which no register records. Against a judgment creditor it counts from the day the notice was filed. What the refiling window does, and what a missed...
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Construction liens, and the clock that runs backwards
A Florida construction lien takes its priority from the notice of commencement, recorded before the work began, not from the claim of lien. What that does to a judgment docketed in between, and what a lien with no...
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What a UCC filing attaches to
Most financing statements are not in the land records. UCC 9-501(a) names the four that are, and 9-515 gives the rest five years before they lapse.
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Face amount, balance, and why the face is what gets counted
The register records what an instrument said on the day it was stamped, not what is owed now. Which direction that error runs in, and the case where it runs the other way.
Making the judgment a lien, and keeping it one10 pieces
The filing act, how long a lien lasts and how it is renewed, moving a judgment between counties and states, and the enforcement steps that follow.
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How long a judgment lien lasts, and how to renew it: the two clocks and the filing that resets one
A judgment lien and the judgment behind it run on separate clocks that start on different days and end on different days. This explains the terms a renewal goes by, state by state, and what lapses without a word.
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How a judgment becomes a lien, in all fifty states and DC: what to file, and where
The act that turns a judgment into a lien on land sorts into four families across the fifty-one jurisdictions: recording a paper, docketing, the judgment's own entry, and attachment or execution.
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Asking the debtor: information subpoenas and examinations, and what a bank can be made to tell
After judgment, New York and Florida let a creditor compel sworn answers about where the money is. What a subpoena, a fact information sheet and an examination can reach, and what they cannot.
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Execution and the sheriff's sale: what it takes to sell the property and what the buyer gets
The writ, the levy, the notice and the public auction that turn a judgment into a sheriff's deed, in New York and Florida, with the days between each step and the limits the statutes leave open.
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Moving a judgment to another county or state: which office to file in, and when the lien starts
A judgment is a lien only where it is filed. This page shows which filing reaches another county, another state and another federal district, and when the clock on the lien begins.
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A debtor's LLC: charging orders and their limits, and why a charging order stops at the distributions
Your debtor owns the building through an LLC. A charging order reaches what the company pays out on the debtor's share, and in most cases stops there. What the statutes say, for Florida and New York.
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Freezing money: restraining notices, levies and garnishment, and what a bank must leave untouched
How New York's restraining notice and bank levy and Florida's writ of garnishment freeze a debtor's account, and the exempt money a bank cannot touch under federal and state law.
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Turnover orders and receivers: how a court makes a debtor hand over an asset that is not land
When the asset is money, a bank balance or goods rather than real property, a court can order the debtor, or the person holding it, to pay or deliver it, and can appoint a receiver to run it.
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Post-judgment interest in New York, Florida and federal court: what rate a judgment earns and whether it compounds
What rate a money judgment earns after entry in New York, Florida and federal court, how and when that rate changes, and where the statutes stop short.
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Priority by recording date: which filing act creates a lien, and when
The date on a judgment is not the date that decides who gets paid. What decides it is a filing act, in a named office. New York and Florida, with the statutes.
Exemptions and protected property9 pieces
Homestead, tenancy by the entireties, community property, retirement accounts, insurance and wages.
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Retirement accounts, annuities and life insurance: what New York, Florida and bankruptcy law protect
How New York, Florida and federal bankruptcy law treat IRAs, pension plans, annuities and life insurance cash value, and where each protection has an exception a creditor can use.
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New York's homestead exemption, by county: how much home equity a money judgment cannot reach
New York exempts a slice of home equity from a money judgment, and the amount depends on the county. The 2024 figures, the three-year adjustment, and what happens above the floor.
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Homestead protection, state by state: how each state measures what a home keeps
How the states measure the homestead exemption: by acres, by a dollar figure, by both, or by a residence exemption written only for bankruptcy, with the federal cap that sits on top.
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Texas homestead: measured in acres, not dollars, and what a judgment lien cannot touch
A Texas homestead is protected from forced sale for all but a short list of debts, and a recorded judgment lien does not attach to it. The protection is sized in acres, and the page states no dollar figure.
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Wages: how much can be taken, and from whom it is protected: what share of a paycheck a judgment reaches
Federal law caps wage garnishment at a quarter of disposable earnings or what is above a weekly floor. New York and Florida set floors of their own, and Florida can protect the whole check.
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Community property states and the spouse who did not sign: what a creditor of one spouse can reach
In some states, whether your debtor is married changes what a creditor can collect. Each state's statute draws the line its own way, and the spouse who did not sign is where the lines part.
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Which states recognize tenancy by the entireties, and for what property
A state-by-state read of the entireties tenancy: which statutes create it, for land or for personal property too, and which ones say what a creditor of one spouse can reach.
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Florida homestead, and what a roll shows about it
A judgment lien does not attach to a Florida homestead, and the exemption flag on the tax roll answers a different question. What the flag means, the 45 days a notice of homestead starts, and why the flag belongs to...
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Tenancy by the entireties, and what a deed does not say
The estate arises by default from a conveyance to a married couple. What separates it from a joint tenancy is a fact no county register records.
Transfers and reachback7 pieces
Voidable transfer law, what a recorded deed and its transfer tax say about a transfer, and the look-back windows.
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Badges of fraud you can read off the record: which facts a public record proves
The voidable-transfer statutes list factors a court may weigh in deciding intent. A public record carries facts bearing on several of them, and settles none.
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Transfer declarations name both sides of a sale: the second record that travels with a deed
When the deed index is offline, the tax form filed with the deed often names buyer, seller and price. What each state's form carries, and where it goes.
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Look-back windows for voidable transfers, state by state: how far back a creditor can reach
How far back a creditor can reach to undo a transfer turns on the state and on whether the debtor files. Four years is the common rule, not the national one, and this page says where it does not hold.
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Quitclaims and family deeds: why a debtor signs one to a relative, and what it tells you
A quitclaim to a relative can be estate planning or a move to put a house out of reach. What the deed conveys, what the tax line shows, and why it is a lead rather than a finding.
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Transfer tax as a price record beyond Florida: where a deed's tax line reflects the price, and where it does not
Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia for which a statute was found tax a deed. Some figure the tax on the price paid, some on value, and on a gift or an exempt deed the number can tell you nothing.
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Transfers after a judgment, and the window that remains
Whether the lien attached turns on the order of two recordings. If it did not, two clocks run from the day of the transfer, one of four years and one of a single year.
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Doc stamps give the real price
A Florida deed reciting ten dollars proves nothing. The documentary stamp tax on the same instrument is computed from actual consideration, so the price can be recovered by dividing. What 70 cents of stamps means,...
When the debtor files4 pieces
The stay, preferences, lien avoidance, discharge, and what a trustee does with the same record.
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The ninety day rule: when your lien becomes a preference, and the window a trustee counts back
A recorded judgment lien can be avoided as a preference if it attached inside the window before a bankruptcy petition. What the window is, who an insider is, and what the trustee must prove.
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Do judgment liens survive bankruptcy: what the discharge voids and what rides through
A discharge wipes out personal liability on the debt. Whether the lien on the house is gone too is a separate question, and the Bankruptcy Code answers it one section at a time.
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What a Chapter 7 trustee looks for in the record: schedules, transfers and turnover
The public record dates every deed and lien and indexes it by both parties' names. A Chapter 7 trustee reads that against the debtor's own schedules, and the law gives both the look-back windows and the power to act...
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The automatic stay: what stops the moment they file, and what it leaves alone
When a debtor files for bankruptcy, the petition itself freezes most collection. This page maps what the automatic stay halts, what it leaves alone, and how a creditor asks the court for relief.
How public records work8 pieces
The offices, the indexes, the lag between them, and the laws now taking records off the public index.
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A glossary of register terms
Document type codes, party roles and the three identifiers, taken from the register's own code tables. Party one on a satisfaction is the borrower.
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Assessor, recorder, clerk: which office keeps what, and why the tax roll and the deed disagree
The owner on the tax roll and the owner on the deed come from different offices with different jobs. A guide to which of five offices holds each record, and which one decides priority.
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Recording lag: the gap between filing and the index, and why a lien can count before it shows
A lien counts from the moment the recording office takes it in, but a copy of an index only shows what it held on its as-of date. What the statutes fix, and what is office practice.
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State court records, federal dockets, and where each lives: where a lawsuit against your debtor is filed and read
A lawsuit leaves its trace on the docket of the court where it was filed, and a judgment reaches land only through the office state law names. Two court systems, two searches.
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New York City: what ACRIS holds and what the County Clerk holds, and why a judgment or lis pendens may not be in ACRIS
In New York City two offices keep two sets of records. The City Register runs ACRIS for property documents; the County Clerk dockets judgments. A clean ACRIS search does not cover the docket.
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The shrinking public record: redaction and restricted-use laws, and why an owner drops out of a county search
Some owners disappear from a county's public search because a statute removes them. This page explains redaction, restricted access and restricted-use laws in four jurisdictions, and what each does not reach.
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Check any line yourself
The procedure for verifying a claim about a recorded document against the register it came from, and the three questions the register will not settle.
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What an empty result actually means
A search that returns nothing has told you about the search. Which offices were queried, which key was used, and what period the data covers decide whether it told you anything else.
Rules for the people collecting3 pieces
The FDCPA, pretexting, the DPPA and collection licensing, written as fact and restriction, never as a conclusion about the reader.
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Pretexting: getting account information by deception is a federal crime, and why the vendor matters
Pretexting means obtaining a financial institution's customer information by a false statement or a forged document. Federal law makes it a crime, and asking someone else to do it can be a separate violation.
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When the FDCPA applies to a collection lawyer: debts, debt collectors, and the rules that bite in enforcement
Whether the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act reaches a lawyer enforcing a judgment turns on whose debts the firm collects and how often. Here is what the Act provides and what it leaves to the courts.
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Collection agency licensing for law firms and buyers: which states license, who is exempt, and where buying a judgment counts
What each state's statute says about licensing debt collectors, where lawyers are exempt and on what conditions, and when buying a judgment to collect it is itself collection business.
Deciding whether to pursue3 pieces
Collectability from the creditor side, what an asset investigation contains, and selling or assigning a judgment.
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Is this judgment collectible? The creditor's checklist: the five questions to ask before spending more on enforcement
Five questions in a fixed order, owner, asset, claim, exemption and transfer, each with a stop where the record gives the next question nothing to work on. What the law provides in New York and Florida, and where it...
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What an asset investigation contains, and what it cannot: a reader's guide to what an investigator's report is built from
An asset investigation is a report of what public records and lawful requests show about a debtor's property. This page lists what belongs in it, what drives the work, and the lines federal law puts a prison term behind.
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Selling or assigning a judgment: what the buyer files and records
A judgment can be sold. What the buyer must file in New York, record in Florida, and whether buying judgments to collect them counts as collection business elsewhere.
Judgment liens, state by state51 pieces
One page a state and DC: what to file and where, what the lien reaches, how long it lasts, land in another county, and the homestead in one paragraph.
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Working with us3 pieces
What a report may be used for, what it is worth against the cost of pursuing a judgment, and how it differs from the people-search product you may already pay for.
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If you already use a people-search product
What an aggregator like TLOxp or Accurint is built to answer, what a county register answers instead, and why there is nothing here to apply for.
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What a floor is worth against a contingency fee
One judgment, one recorded stack, and the sum walked both ways: where the floor says pursue, and where it says stop before you spend the examination.
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What Collecteral reports may be used for: FCRA, GLBA and DPPA
No permissible-use dropdown, and what that does and does not mean. Where the records come from, the restriction you accept, and what FCRA, GLBA and DPPA say.
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