I also am unfamiliar with a "living estate" and think that you're probably referring to a Living Trust.
The issue of whether or not your own property can or will be liened PROBABLY depends on who incurred the obligation that resulted in the lien, as well as the issue of whether or not inheritable property is lienable. This last issue of lienability is a key issue.
HOWEVER, there may be certain circumstances by which a creditor can lien property to be inherited. This is a question for a creditor's rights attorney; it's well beyond a forum. You definitely need professional advice on this issue.
I don't have access to Lexis/Nexis which would be the ideal search engine for this kind of question, but I did find this:
"Proper estate planning by a decedent can protect a beneficiary’s inheritance. Ideally, the decedent would have made provisions for you to receive your share in trust. This trust, with spendthrift provisions, does protect your inheritance from your creditors while held in trust. However, as the Trustee makes distributions of trust assets to you the portion you receive would become subject to the judgment against you. Again, the creditors would have to be aware of these distributions, which may be unlikely."
The second and last sentences are key to lienability of inherited property. As I interpret this, your child's inheritance would be protected while you're alive, but on your death, the debt would become lienable.
I write this, however, with the caveat that I am not that familiar with creditor's rights, debtor's rights, and lienability of obligations.
Was your child the sole individual responsible for the apparent nonpayment? Was your name on any documents he/she signed that led to the lien?
Who specifically holds title to your property? How is title worded on the Deed?
Assuming you have a Living Trust, does your child have any CURRENT interest or rights in the LT, or do they arise only on your death (which is a critical issue)?
The issue of whether potentially inheritable property may be liened is one I never encountered when working for EP (now sometimes a/k/a elder law) or a corporate bankruptcy firm.
It arises from the issue of whether property not currently held by the debtor but potentially inheritable can be liened. This is a question for an estate planning attorney, or a creditor's rights attorney or bankruptcy attorney.
Don't worry any more; research and find an attorney who can answer succinctly.
I am not familiar with the term living estate. Do you mean living trust or perhaps life estate?
If your child's name is on the title to the property, their creditor may place a lien on it.
A living trust is revocable during your lifetime. Since you can change beneficiaries, your child has no claim to your property and neither does their creditor. If the trust says to give the property to your child after your death, then after your death your child owns it and the creditor may go after the property as your child's asset. The living trust may instead be set up to become an irrevocable trust which holds the property after your death, while allowing your child to live in or receive distributions of income from it. The creditor could go after distributed income, but not the property. This is simplified and be aware that the irrevocable trust could have considerable administrative expenses, so it would need cash not just the property.
The property is still your property while you're still alive, so no. Once you die, that's likely a whole other story.
If your child has money management issues, you'd be wise to meet with a trust and estate attorney to set up your trust in such a manner that he/she doesn't get your assets all at once.
A few suggest irrevocable trust. I know they are very up to date on this sort of thing. But I would just like to say, before you do that, do know essentially you have given that money away. It is not in your control. You cannot change the trust. Just ask the Lawyer to tell you all about the difference between Living (revoable trust) and an IRRevocable trust, because there is a WORLD of difference, and to do it without a complete understanding could be a mistake. Or not. Just saying, understand it well before you do it.
Yes but Judgements do not necessarily last forever. They are time limited underwhatever it is under your states laws. The holder can file to the court to have the judgement extended but doing this has time & fees involved. A lot of creditors don’t bother past the initial 4-6 yr judgement blanket. They sell the existing judgements, even if it’s expired, to real bottom feeder type of debt collection outfits.
just a random not-an-atty thought, if the judgement is huge, like more than half property value, and your daughter has other debt issues as well, she may want to speak with a bankruptcy atty to see if it would be worthwhile to declare BK now before she gets that asset of yours. It’s not her asset right now, so not included as her asset if she did a BK filing. It may be really good to speak with atty to see if this could possibly make sense to do.
i also like Burnts suggestion of Irrevocable Trust. But I’d be kinda concerned if she is just hell on wheels on finances that she would get the property via the trust after you pass and then the Trust ends up defunding as it now has no continuous source of funding to pay for things titled into the trust. (Cause she has no $). It’s sticky legal to deal with selling stuff titled in a defunded trust. It’s easier to sell stuff - if she needed to - if its just in her name (than in a Trusts name).
Trusts sound all fabulous but there must be $ to pay & pay for possibly years and years for anything titled in the Trusts name. What seems to happen is the elder has $ from their bank acct that gets their SS$ or retirement $ or investment $ go into the Trust kitty every month. The $ keeps the trusts costs afloat. But then the elder dies and the $ goes to zero and it’s now a defunded Trust. Someone will need to keep $ flowing in OR the Trust has its own investments that make $ and pay into itself for years......
Yes, any court judgements and or liens having been ruled against your child like alimony payments, back child support or welfare benefits owed back to the state, student loans, credit card debt, etc... can be collected upon if he or she inherits your property after your death. Go to a lawyer and have your property put into Irrevocable Trust to your child. This will protect against liens or any other monies he or she currently owes. It will also protect against the property having to be liquidated to qualify for Medicaid should you ever need to be in a long-term care facility. So long as it's done past the 5-year look back period on money and assets that Medicaid does for applicants. The conditions that come with putting something in trust is that the person it's trusted to cannot sell it. If your child sells the property then whatever liens they had against them or whatever money they owe can be collected from the proceeds of the sale. But not if the place is not sold. Please speak to your lawyer about Irrevocable Trust.
The issue of whether or not your own property can or will be liened PROBABLY depends on who incurred the obligation that resulted in the lien, as well as the issue of whether or not inheritable property is lienable. This last issue of lienability is a key issue.
HOWEVER, there may be certain circumstances by which a creditor can lien property to be inherited. This is a question for a creditor's rights attorney; it's well beyond a forum. You definitely need professional advice on this issue.
I don't have access to Lexis/Nexis which would be the ideal search engine for this kind of question, but I did find this:
"Proper estate planning by a decedent can protect a beneficiary’s inheritance. Ideally, the decedent would have made provisions for you to receive your share in trust. This trust, with spendthrift provisions, does protect your inheritance from your creditors while held in trust. However, as the Trustee makes distributions of trust assets to you the portion you receive would become subject to the judgment against you. Again, the creditors would have to be aware of these distributions, which may be unlikely."
The second and last sentences are key to lienability of inherited property. As I interpret this, your child's inheritance would be protected while you're alive, but on your death, the debt would become lienable.
I write this, however, with the caveat that I am not that familiar with creditor's rights, debtor's rights, and lienability of obligations.
Was your child the sole individual responsible for the apparent nonpayment? Was your name on any documents he/she signed that led to the lien?
Who specifically holds title to your property? How is title worded on the Deed?
Assuming you have a Living Trust, does your child have any CURRENT interest or rights in the LT, or do they arise only on your death (which is a critical issue)?
The issue of whether potentially inheritable property may be liened is one I never encountered when working for EP (now sometimes a/k/a elder law) or a corporate bankruptcy firm.
It arises from the issue of whether property not currently held by the debtor but potentially inheritable can be liened. This is a question for an estate planning attorney, or a creditor's rights attorney or bankruptcy attorney.
Don't worry any more; research and find an attorney who can answer succinctly.
If your child's name is on the title to the property, their creditor may place a lien on it.
A living trust is revocable during your lifetime. Since you can change beneficiaries, your child has no claim to your property and neither does their creditor. If the trust says to give the property to your child after your death, then after your death your child owns it and the creditor may go after the property as your child's asset. The living trust may instead be set up to become an irrevocable trust which holds the property after your death, while allowing your child to live in or receive distributions of income from it. The creditor could go after distributed income, but not the property. This is simplified and be aware that the irrevocable trust could have considerable administrative expenses, so it would need cash not just the property.
Consult an estate lawyer in your jurisdiction.
If your child has money management issues, you'd be wise to meet with a trust and estate attorney to set up your trust in such a manner that he/she doesn't get your assets all at once.
just a random not-an-atty thought, if the judgement is huge, like more than half property value, and your daughter has other debt issues as well, she may want to speak with a bankruptcy atty to see if it would be worthwhile to declare BK now before she gets that asset of yours. It’s not her asset right now, so not included as her asset if she did a BK filing. It may be really good to speak with atty to see if this could possibly make sense to do.
i also like Burnts suggestion of Irrevocable Trust. But I’d be kinda concerned if she is just hell on wheels on finances that she would get the property via the trust after you pass and then the Trust ends up defunding as it now has no continuous source of funding to pay for things titled into the trust. (Cause she has no $). It’s sticky legal to deal with selling stuff titled in a defunded trust. It’s easier to sell stuff - if she needed to - if its just in her name (than in a Trusts name).
Trusts sound all fabulous but there must be $ to pay & pay for possibly years and years for anything titled in the Trusts name. What seems to happen is the elder has $ from their bank acct that gets their SS$ or retirement $ or investment $ go into the Trust kitty every month. The $ keeps the trusts costs afloat. But then the elder dies and the $ goes to zero and it’s now a defunded Trust. Someone will need to keep $ flowing in OR the Trust has its own investments that make $ and pay into itself for years......
Go to a lawyer and have your property put into Irrevocable Trust to your child. This will protect against liens or any other monies he or she currently owes. It will also protect against the property having to be liquidated to qualify for Medicaid should you ever need to be in a long-term care facility. So long as it's done past the 5-year look back period on money and assets that Medicaid does for applicants.
The conditions that come with putting something in trust is that the person it's trusted to cannot sell it. If your child sells the property then whatever liens they had against them or whatever money they owe can be collected from the proceeds of the sale. But not if the place is not sold. Please speak to your lawyer about Irrevocable Trust.