Judgment liens in Illinois

What to file, and where

Entering a judgment in court does not yet make it a lien on land. That lien begins when a filing reaches the recorder.

For real estate not registered under the Act concerning land titles, an Illinois judgment becomes a lien on the debtor's real estate only from the time a transcript, certified copy, or memorandum of it is filed with the recorder in the county where the land is located. 735 ILCS 5/12-101¹ says so. Signing day is not attachment day.

What about a foreign judgment, meaning one from outside Illinois that has been registered or filed here? It follows the same logic with its own filing. The lien begins only from the time the required affidavit with the foreign judgment attached, or a memorandum of an Illinois judgment entered on an action to enforce it, is filed with the county recorder. 735 ILCS 5/12-101 again.

Registered land is the exception that will not help you here. For real estate registered under the Act concerning land titles, a judgment is a lien for the same period as unregistered land when Section 85 of that Act has been complied with, under 735 ILCS 5/12-101.

What it reaches

Enforcement of a judgment lien in Illinois runs the way a mortgage does, with two differences written into the section.

A judgment lien may be foreclosed under Article XV in the same manner as a mortgage of real property, except that the redemption period is 6 months from the date of sale and the real estate homestead exemption under Section 12-901 applies. 735 ILCS 5/12-101 sets both differences. So the Section 12-901 exemption follows the owner into the foreclosure.

How long it lasts, and renewing it

Seven years, and the renewal is a court proceeding followed by a new recording. Miss either and the lien is gone.

An Illinois judgment is not a lien on real estate for longer than 7 years from the time it is entered or revived, unless it is revived and a new memorandum recorded as the section requires. 735 ILCS 5/12-101. A lien continues past 7 years only if the judgment is revived within 7 years after its entry or last revival and a new memorandum is recorded before the judgment and its memorandum become dormant.

Enforcement carries the same wall. No judgment may be enforced more than 7 years after it is rendered unless revived, but real estate levied on within the 7 years may be sold within one year after the 7 years expire. 735 ILCS 5/12-108². A levy made in time buys a one-year tail that an untouched judgment does not get.

Revival itself is a proceeding under Section 2-1601 of the Code of Civil Procedure, named by 735 ILCS 5/12-108. That section is not set out here, so this page will not describe how the revival runs. Resetting a lien's clock is the subject of how long a judgment lien lasts.

Land in another county

Land anywhere in the state can be reached, one county at a time, once the paper arrives there.

An Illinois judgment can be a lien on the debtor's real estate in any county of the state, including the county where it was entered, but only from the time a transcript, certified copy, or memorandum of it is filed with the recorder of the county where the land is. 735 ILCS 5/12-101. File a memorandum in Cook and it does nothing to a farm in DeKalb until a memorandum is filed in DeKalb too.

Homestead here, in one paragraph

Illinois exempts a slice of the home's value from the debts of its owner, and the figure is written into the same section as the exemption itself.

Every individual is entitled to an estate of homestead to the extent in value of $15,000 of his or her interest in a farm or lot of land and buildings on it, a condominium, or personal property owned or rightly possessed and occupied as a residence, or in a cooperative that owns property the individual uses as a residence. 735 ILCS 5/12-901³. Where two or more individuals own property exempt as a homestead, each individual's exemption may not exceed a proportionate share of $30,000 based on percentage of ownership. Whether either figure is adjusted over time, the statute does not say.

Here is the breadth of it. The homestead and all right in and title to it is exempt from attachment, judgment, levy, or judgment sale for the payment of the individual's debts, and from the laws of conveyance, descent, and legacy, except as the Code of Civil Procedure or Section 20-6 of the Probate Act of 1975 provides. 735 ILCS 5/12-901. Conveying the homestead does not subject the premises to any lien or encumbrance to which they would not be subject in the owner's possession, under 735 ILCS 5/12-906⁴.

Two edges are worth knowing. Between joint tenants or tenants in common the homestead section does not apply, but it does apply as to any creditors of those persons, under 735 ILCS 5/12-901. And a creditor foreclosing a judgment lien meets the Section 12-901 exemption there too, under 735 ILCS 5/12-101. How this slice compares across states is the subject of homestead protection state by state.

Where the records live

One office answers almost every question on this page: the recorder of the county where the land is.

For unregistered real estate, the lien begins when a transcript, certified copy, or memorandum of the judgment is filed in the office of the recorder in the county where the land is located. 735 ILCS 5/12-101. That same recorder takes the foreign-judgment affidavit, the order of revival, plus the filing for each additional county a creditor wants to reach. A judgment is entered in the court file. Its lien lives at the recorder.

How a judgment becomes a lien differs from one state to the next, which is the subject of judgment liens state by state. Illinois files with the recorder and starts the clock at 7 years. One jurisdiction over, both answers can change.