How to File a Lien Against a Defendant's Property

Video Transcript

"You just won a judgment in small claims court against someone that owed you money, and now you want to collect it and you've heard maybe I should file a lien against their property. Hello, I'm Robert Todd, and I'm here to answer the question: How do I file a lien against the defendant's property? Well, first of all, maybe you should consider trying to collect the judgment from the defendant first by some other means -- finding out whether they can pay you in installments over a period of time and work something out like that. If they can't, and they absolutely refuse to pay the judgment, and a lien is your only recourse, you may want to seriously consider hiring a lawyer who knows what he or she is doing with respect to filing liens. This is an area of the law where if you don't know what you're doing, not only may you not protect your interest, which you're intending to do with the filing of the lien, but you may actually get into legal trouble by filing a lien wrong on the wrong property or in the wrong fashion or in the wrong amount and subject yourself to liability, which is not what you're intending to do. I'm Robert Todd, and thank you for watching."