Yes, you can put a lien on someone’s property if they owe you money, but for an ordinary debt you have to earn the right first. The standard path is to sue the debtor, win a money judgment, and then record that judgment in the county where they own real estate. Only then does a lien actually attach to the title. Filing a claim against someone’s house on your own say-so is not an option the law gives private creditors.
When You Don’t Need a Lawsuit First
A few kinds of liens skip the courtroom, and it’s worth knowing whether yours is one of them before you file anything.
A mortgage is a consensual lien: the property owner signed an agreement pledging the property as collateral. If you loaned money against a signed security agreement, you may already have a lien without needing a judge.
A mechanic’s lien protects contractors, subcontractors, and material suppliers who improved a property and weren’t paid. It arises by operation of law and attaches to the property that received the work.1Legal Information Institute. Mechanic’s Lien Deadlines are strict and short.
Tax liens belong to government agencies. The federal tax lien reaches all property a taxpayer owns once the IRS demands payment and the taxpayer neglects or refuses to pay.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6321 – Lien for Taxes Private creditors have no equivalent.
If your debt is a personal loan, an unpaid invoice, or a broken contract, none of those shortcuts apply. You need a judgment lien, and that starts in court.
Step One: Sue and Win a Judgment
You file a complaint, serve the debtor, and go through the case. If the court rules for you, it issues a judgment stating that the debtor owes you a specific dollar amount.3Legal Information Institute. Judgment Lien
Where you file depends on the size of the claim. Small claims courts handle lower-value disputes, with caps ranging roughly from $2,500 to $25,000 depending on the state. If your claim exceeds the local cap, you file in general civil court, which is more formal and more expensive.
The judgment itself is not the lien. It’s the ticket that lets you create one. Left in the court file, it does nothing to the debtor’s property.
One thing that works in your favor once you win: post-judgment interest. In federal court, interest accrues from the date of judgment at a rate tied to the weekly average one-year Treasury yield, compounded annually.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1961 – Interest State courts set their own rates. Either way, every month of delay makes the balance a little larger.
Step Two: Record the Judgment as a Lien
Once you have the judgment, ask the clerk for an abstract of judgment, a certified summary of the court’s decision.5Legal Information Institute. Abstract of Judgment You’ll typically need the debtor’s full legal name and last known address on the form.
Then take the certified abstract to the county recorder in the county where the debtor owns property. Recording it creates the lien.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 3201 – Judgment Liens From that point forward, anyone searching the title will see your claim. Recording fees are modest, generally $10 to $70.
Two practical notes. One, a single recording only covers property inside that county, so if the debtor owns real estate in more than one county, you’ll need to record the abstract in each of them. Two, if you don’t know what the debtor owns, the county assessor’s records are public and searchable, and after judgment you can also compel the debtor to disclose assets under oath.
Personal property such as vehicles, equipment, and accounts receivable goes through a different process, generally a filing with the Secretary of State’s office and sometimes a separate procedure through the motor vehicle department. The rules vary by state.
What the Lien Attaches To
A recorded judgment lien attaches to any real estate the debtor currently owns in that county — houses, condominiums, vacant land. It also attaches to real property the debtor acquires later in that county, as long as the lien hasn’t expired.3Legal Information Institute. Judgment Lien Even if the debtor owns nothing today, recording the lien positions you to collect if they buy something down the road.
Where You Stand Against Other Creditors
Having a lien and getting paid are not the same thing. When a property sells, liens are paid in order, and the general rule is first in time, first in right. A judgment lien created under federal law has priority over any lien or encumbrance perfected at a later date.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 3201 – Judgment Liens
In practice, a mortgage recorded years before your judgment lien gets paid first. Property tax liens are worse for you: many jurisdictions give them super-priority, jumping ahead of mortgages and everything else. By the time senior liens are satisfied from a sale, there may be nothing left for a late-arriving judgment creditor. Having a lien doesn’t mean the property has enough equity to pay you.
How Long the Lien Lasts
Liens expire. Under federal law, a judgment lien is effective for 20 years unless satisfied sooner, and can be renewed for one additional 20-year period if you file a renewal notice before the original period expires and the court approves it.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 3201 – Judgment Liens
State durations are shorter. Roughly half the states use a 10-year period. A few use as little as 5 years, others match the federal 20. Most states allow renewal or revival, but procedures and deadlines differ. Miss the deadline and you lose the security interest entirely, and you may have to go back to court to revive the underlying judgment before you can re-record. Calendar the renewal date well in advance. The debtor has no obligation to remind you.
How You Actually Collect
A lien is a passive tool. It clouds the property’s title and applies pressure the moment the debtor tries to sell or refinance, because the title company will flag it and the buyer’s lender will refuse to close until it’s cleared. A lot of judgment creditors get paid this way, simply by waiting.
If the debtor never sells, you can try to force the issue with a writ of execution from the court clerk. The writ directs a sheriff or marshal to seize property and sell it at public auction. Proceeds pay creditors in priority order, with the sheriff’s costs coming out first. You’re allowed to bid at the sale yourself.
Forcing the sale of a home is legally possible but rarely quick or clean. Courts scrutinize these actions, homestead exemptions can gut the recovery, and for real property the process often resembles a foreclosure and may require a separate court action.
What Can Wipe Out Your Lien
Two things routinely defeat judgment liens: homestead exemptions and bankruptcy.
Every state protects some amount of equity in a debtor’s primary residence. When the property sells, the debtor takes the protected amount before judgment creditors see anything. The range is wide. Some states cap the exemption at $5,000 to $30,000 per person. Others protect several hundred thousand. A few offer unlimited protection for the primary residence, which can make a lien on the home effectively worthless for collection even though it legally attaches to the title.
The federal homestead exemption in bankruptcy protects up to $31,575 of equity in a primary residence as of April 2025.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 522 – Exemptions Most states have opted out of the federal scheme and apply their own amounts, higher or lower. Check the applicable state exemption before you plan on collecting from a home.
Bankruptcy is the bigger threat. Filing triggers an automatic stay that halts collection, and federal law lets the debtor strip away a judicial lien entirely if that lien impairs an exemption the debtor is entitled to claim.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 522 – Exemptions When that happens, you drop back to unsecured creditor status, which often pays pennies on the dollar or nothing. Liens that don’t impair an exemption survive bankruptcy and stay attached to the property even after the debtor’s personal liability is discharged.
Is It Worth the Cost
Add up the realistic expenses before you start. Court filing fees run from under $100 in small claims to several hundred dollars in general civil court. Serving the debtor through a process server typically costs $40 to $200. After winning, the abstract and recording fees together add roughly $50 to $110. Hiring an attorney will dwarf all of that.
Then ask whether the debtor has anything worth liening. A judgment lien against a renter with no real estate produces nothing immediately; you’re betting on future purchases in that county. For debtors who do own property, the math turns on the equity left after the mortgage and senior liens, and on how much of that the homestead exemption protects. Experienced creditors run these numbers before filing suit, not after.