Judgment liens in Vermont

What to file, and where

Recording is what makes a final judgment a lien on the debtor's real property, and it is a specific act in a specific office.

Once it is recorded as the chapter provides, a final judgment in a civil action, or a restitution order entered under 13 V.S.A. § 7043, is a lien on any real property of the judgment debtor. 12 V.S.A. 2901¹ makes the recording the event that matters, not the signing.

Recording means filing a copy of the judgment, carrying the date it became final, certified by the clerk of the court that issued it. The town clerk then records that certification in the land records. 12 V.S.A. 2904² names the office: the town, not a county register. Vermont keeps its land records town by town.

What it reaches

The debtor's real property is what the judgment lien reaches, but Vermont carves out the homestead from attachment and execution.

Vermont exempts the homestead of a natural person from attachment and execution except as the chapter provides. That homestead is the dwelling house with its outbuildings and the land used with them, owned and used or kept as a homestead, with the rents and profits it yields. 27 V.S.A. 101³ caps that exemption at $125,000.00 in value.

Whether the judgment lien of 12 V.S.A. 2901 attaches to a homestead at all is a question these sections do not settle, and this page will not guess at it. What the statute does say is plain: up to $125,000.00 of a Vermont homestead is exempt from attachment and execution except as the chapter provides.

How long it lasts, and renewing it

The lien is good for eight years from the issuance of the final judgment, and the statute runs several clocks for what happens after.

Eight years from the issuance of the final judgment on which it is based: that is the term of a judgment lien. 12 V.S.A. 2903⁴ sets it. One thing extends the lien without a renewal. An action to foreclose it during the eight years extends the period until the foreclosure suit ends, so long as a copy of the complaint is filed in the land records on or before the eight years run out.

Renewal is a different act entirely. A judgment is renewed or revived by filing a new and independent action on it within eight years after rendition, and not after. 12 V.S.A. 506⁵ is exact about the deadline. Once renewed or revived, a judgment then constitutes a lien for another eight years from its own issuance, if recorded under the chapter.

Relation back is the part worth knowing cold. Under 12 V.S.A. 2903 a renewed or revived judgment relates back to the date the original lien was first recorded, on two conditions: a copy of the complaint to renew was recorded in the land records where the property lies within eight years after rendition, and the renewed judgment is afterward recorded under the chapter. Those are the terms the statute sets for relation back. For the clocks in other states, see how long a judgment lien lasts.

Land in another town

A debtor who owns property in more than one town needs a recording in each.

Within eight years from the date the judgment becomes final, a judgment creditor may record a judgment lien in the town clerk's office of any town where the debtor's real property is located. 12 V.S.A. 2904 ties the recording to the town where the land sits. A debtor who owns land in more than one town is the case the statute writes this permission for.

Homestead here, in one paragraph

Vermont's homestead exemption has a dollar cap and reaches one form of ownership that looks like personal property.

Vermont shields a homestead from attachment and execution except as the chapter provides. What that covers is the dwelling house with its outbuildings and the land used with them, owned and used or kept as a homestead, together with the rents and profits they yield. 27 V.S.A. 101 caps it at $125,000.00 in value.

Vermont's homestead chapter is not confined to fee ownership of a house. 11 V.S.A. 1609⁶ applies it to cooperative interests in cooperative housing corporations, even though those interests are characterized as personal property. For how other states draw this line, see homestead protection state by state.

Where the records live

Two documents, filed in the town land records, do the work.

The lien attaches on recording, and recording happens in the town, not a county seat. 12 V.S.A. 2901 makes recording the operative act, and 12 V.S.A. 2904 puts the record in the town clerk's office.

What goes in is a copy of the judgment with the date it became final, certified by the clerk of the court that issued it. The town clerk records the certification in the land records. So a search for a Vermont judgment lien is a search of the town land records, and the date that decides the clock is the day the judgment became final, printed on the clerk's certification.