Judgment liens in Mississippi

What to file, and where

Enrollment creates the lien. The statute is blunt about the cost of skipping it.

In Mississippi a judgment is not a lien on any property until it is enrolled. Miss. Code 11-7-191¹ says that in one line. Once enrolled, the judgment binds all the defendant's property in the county where it is enrolled, dating back to the rendition of the judgment, and takes priority in the order of enrollment. So the stamp on the roll decides who got there first, not the day the court signed.

Within twenty days after each term of court adjourns, the circuit clerk enrolls the final judgments of that term, taking them in the order they were entered on the minutes and writing each defendant's name onto The Judgment Roll under its letter of the alphabet. Both the twenty days and the roll itself come from Miss. Code 11-7-189(1)², and the clerk keeps that roll as one or more books in the office.

Federal and chancery judgments do not enroll themselves. Take a judgment of a United States court held in Mississippi, or of the state Supreme Court or a chancery court: it is not a lien on property in the county where it was rendered until an abstract is filed with the circuit clerk of that county and enrolled on the roll. That abstract runs through the same procedure as a judgment bound for another county. Miss. Code 11-7-197³ points it there.

What it reaches

Land is not the whole of it.

An enrolled judgment binds all the property of the defendant within the county of enrollment, real and personal alike. The word in Miss. Code 11-7-191 is all. Exemptions live elsewhere, chiefly in the homestead section below.

One carve-out sits inside the lien statute itself. Where a judgment is for the purpose described in Miss. Code 85-3-52, it is not a lien on any property in Mississippi owned by a Mississippi resident, and cannot be enforced or satisfied against it. What kind of judgment that covers is a question for the text of 85-3-52, which is not reproduced here, and not for this page.

How long it lasts, and renewing it

Seven years from rendition, unless an action is brought on the judgment before the time runs out.

A Mississippi judgment or decree is not a lien on the defendant's property for longer than seven years from its rendition, unless an action is brought on it first. The clock and the escape both come from Miss. Code 15-1-47⁴. It also stops the clock: time during which execution is stayed or enjoined by supersedeas, injunction or other process does not count toward the seven years. Those days do not count at all.

Renewal has one hard gate. The judgment can be renewed only if it has not already expired, and it is renewed by filing a Notice of Renewal of Judgment or Decree, in substantially the statutory form, with the clerk of the court that rendered it. Both the form and the gate come from Miss. Code 15-1-43⁵. Let the judgment lapse and there is nothing left to renew. Effective on the date the notice is filed, the renewal is enrolled by the clerk showing that filing date, and the lien of the renewed judgment continues from the enrollment of the existing one.

The notice carries specific contents and a sworn companion. It states when the judgment was filed, its case number, against whom and in whose favor it was taken, the current holder, and the amount still owing. A certification goes with those: that the judgment is still valid and has not been satisfied or barred. Filed with it must be an affidavit giving the name and last-known post office address of both debtor and creditor. Actions founded on the judgment run within seven years of rendition or of the last renewal, whichever is later. Any other manner of renewal the law allows is left intact. Miss. Code 15-1-43 governs all of that. More on the general shape of this clock sits in how long a judgment lien lasts.

Land in another county

Enrollment binds one county. Property in the next county over needs its own filing.

The lien binds the defendant's property within the county where the judgment is enrolled, and no further. To reach property outside the county where the judgment was rendered, the plaintiff files, with the circuit clerk of the county where the property sits, an abstract certified by the clerk of the rendering court. Under Miss. Code 11-7-195⁶, that abstract must carry the parties and the amount, the date of rendition and any amount paid, and the defendant's social security or tax identification number if known or readily ascertainable.

On receiving the abstract and the fees, that clerk files and enrolls it on The Judgment Roll, and from the date of enrollment the judgment is a lien on the defendant's property within that county. Miss. Code 11-7-195 again. So the second county has its own enrollment date, which is where its priority starts.

Two judicial districts in a single county are treated as separate ground. Under Miss. Code 11-7-191, a judgment is a lien only in the district or districts where it is enrolled. Enroll in one district of a two-district county and only that half is bound.

Homestead here, in one paragraph

A householder's residence is exempt from seizure or sale, within fixed bounds of value and acreage.

Every citizen of Mississippi who is a householder may hold exempt from seizure or sale, under execution or attachment, the land and buildings owned and occupied as a residence. Miss. Code 85-3-21⁷ grants it and bounds it in the same breath: the land may not exceed 160 acres, and the value, improvements included, may not exceed $75,000.00. In fixing that value, existing encumbrances, taxes and all other liens come off the actual value first. So the exemption protects equity, not price.

Age opens a door that absence would otherwise close. Under Miss. Code 85-3-21, a husband or wife, widower or widow over 60 who has been an exemptionist under the section keeps the exemption even while not residing in the homestead. The broader picture of how states draw these lines sits in homestead protection state by state.

Where the records live

One office and one book, bearing a stamp that carries the whole priority scheme.

The Judgment Roll is where it all happens. Under Miss. Code 11-7-189(1), the clerk of the circuit court keeps it, as one or more books. Enrollment on that roll turns a rendered judgment into a lien. It dates the lien's priority and fixes the county bound.

This page reads one stretch of the Mississippi Code, and no further. Where a section points to another, such as 11-7-197 pointing to the procedure in 11-7-195, the pointed-to text governs, and some of it is not set out here. Nobody writing this is a lawyer and none of it is advice. Whether to enroll in a second county, or to renew before the seven years run, is a question for counsel with the file open. What this page can tell you is which act creates the lien in Mississippi and which book records it. For the fifty-state view, see how a judgment becomes a lien, state by state.