Judgment liens in Pennsylvania

What to file, and where

An entry makes the lien. The signature on the judgment does not.

In Pennsylvania a court of common pleas judgment or order for the payment of money becomes a lien on real property when it is entered of record with the clerk of the court of common pleas of the county where the property sits, or of the branch embracing that county. 42 Pa.C.S. 4303¹ puts the conditions, the extent and the priority off to other statutes and the general rules. So the section that makes the lien does not tell you how far it reaches. Those rules do that.

Every entry in the judgment index carries the names of the parties and the case number, along with the date and time of entry, which Pa.R.C.P. 3021² requires in all cases. The day is recorded, and so is the clock time. In a world where two creditors can file on one morning, that extra mark has something to settle.

What it reaches

The lien attaches to land already in the debtor's name at the moment of entry, and not to land acquired afterward.

When a judgment is entered in the index it creates a lien on real property in that county, title to which, at the time of entry, is recorded in the name of the person against whom the judgment is entered. Pa.R.C.P. 3023(a)³ sets that reach, with subdivision (b) as the exception. Property the debtor buys the next week is not caught by the old entry. An entry fixes the picture as of its own date.

What counts as a judgment for all of this is defined narrowly and then broadly. Pa.R.C.P. 3020⁴ covers any judgment, order or decree requiring the payment of money entered in a court subject to the rules, including a final or interlocutory order for costs. But it leaves out a judgment against the Commonwealth or a political subdivision. Those are excluded from the definition outright.

Two earlier steps can already carry a lien before judgment. Under Pa.R.C.P. 3022(a)⁵ a verdict or order for a specific sum, once in the index, makes a lien on the losing party's county land. Enter a judgment on that verdict and Pa.R.C.P. 3023(b)(1) and (2) do two things: the lien the verdict already held is continued, and a lien is created on the debtor's other county land. Revival continues and creates liens the same way. Under Pa.R.C.P. 3027(b)(1)⁶ and (2) a writ of revival or an agreement to revive, once entered, continues the lien on county land already subject to the revived judgment and creates one on the defendant's other county land, and Pa.R.C.P. 3027(b)(3) reaches further still, to terre-tenant land whose own lien had lapsed before the revival was entered.

How long it lasts, and renewing it

Five years, counted from entry in the judgment index, with a revival that starts its own five-year clock.

The judgment lien continues for 5 years from the date the judgment was entered in the index, unless the judgment is discharged sooner or the lien is revived sooner. Pa.R.C.P. 3023(c) counts from the entry. A verdict lien under Pa.R.C.P. 3022(a) also runs 5 years, but it ends early if the verdict is reduced to judgment, a new trial is awarded, or the court enters judgment notwithstanding the verdict.

Revival does not leave the old lien untouched, and it does not simply stretch it either. Under Pa.R.C.P. 3027(c) the lien of a writ of revival or an agreement to revive continues for 5 years from the date that writ or agreement was entered in the index, which runs a fresh five-year period from that entry. And 42 Pa.C.S. 5526(1)⁷ gives 5 years to commence the action for revival in the first place. That section does not say the date those 5 years run from, and this page will not guess at it.

Mechanically it is plain. Commence a revival proceeding by filing, with the prothonotary of the county where the judgment was entered, either a praecipe for a writ of revival in the form of Rule 3032 or an agreement to revive in the form of Rule 3034. Pa.R.C.P. 3025⁸ sets that out. On issuance of the writ or filing of the agreement, Pa.R.C.P. 3027(a) has the prothonotary enter it in the index against each defendant and terre tenant named in it. For the shape of these clocks across other states, see how long a judgment lien lasts.

Land in another county

The lien can follow the debtor's land into a second county, but only after a transfer step this page does not cover.

An order that is a lien on property in one county is a lien on property in any other county, to the same extent as an order of that other county's own court of common pleas, on compliance with the transfer and filing procedures prescribed by general rule. 42 Pa.C.S. 4303 says so, and it says so with a condition attached: the lien does not travel on its own.

An Official Note to Pa.R.C.P. 3023 points to Rule 3001 and the rules after it for the transfer of a judgment to another county. Those transfer rules are the step that carries the lien, and they are not set out here. Without that step the entry in the first county reaches only the first county's land.

Homestead here, in one paragraph

Pennsylvania does not exempt a residence as such in the sections here, but it gives every judgment debtor a $300 general exemption.

Property of a judgment debtor, including bank notes, money, securities, real property and debts owed to the debtor, is exempt from attachment or execution on a judgment to the value of $300. 42 Pa.C.S. 8123(a)⁹ grants that exemption across kinds of property, and it is a general sum rather than anything tied to a home. The debtor who owns a house and the debtor who owns none start from the same $300.

The exemption has holes in it. Under 42 Pa.C.S. 8123(b) it does not apply to a judgment for support, a judgment against a debtor who is not an individual, a judgment for board of four weeks or less, a judgment of $100 or less for wages for manual labor, or a mortgage foreclosure judgment (limited to the mortgaged property and not reaching a deficiency judgment). And the exemptions do not stack. Where this subchapter and another statute each give an exemption stated as a specific sum, 42 Pa.C.S. 8121(b)¹⁰ has them not aggregated, and the debtor takes the benefit of whichever statute names the largest sum. For how states differ on protecting a home, see homestead protection state by state.

Where the records live

One office makes the lien. One index holds the entry that times it.

The lien is made in the office of the clerk of the court of common pleas of the county where the land sits, or the branch embracing that county, per 42 Pa.C.S. 4303. That is the office whose record shows whether a judgment is a lien on a given parcel. One office holds it, and a branch may stand in for a county that has one.

What that office holds is the judgment index entry. Every entry carries the names of the parties and the case number, with the date and time of entry alongside them, which Pa.R.C.P. 3021 requires. Pa.R.C.P. 3023(c) counts the five-year lien from the date of that entry, which is why the date is the mark the entry exists to fix. For how this filing act compares with the rest of the country, see judgment liens state by state.