Finding Your Judgment Debtor’s Real Property

If you’re judgment debtor has real property, you want to know about it so you can seize and sell it to pay your judgment. The procedure for seizing and selling the property is a Writ of Execution. But, how do you find out whether he has any interest in real property? Let’s explore a couple of possible avenues for your research.

Start With the County Clerk’s Office in the County Where Your Judgment Debtor Lives

Every county clerk in the state must keep an index of grantors and grantees of documents recorded in that county. What this means for you is that, if you’re judgment debtor has any ownership interest in any real property in the county, that ownership interest will be contained in a deed recorded in the records for that county.

What you want to do is search that index of grantors and grantees to see if there’s an entry containing your judgment debtor’s name. If you find the name in the index, you can then look up the exact document conveying an interest to your judgment debtor. Of course, you want to start your search in the records of the county where you think you’re judgment debtor may have a real property interest.

You can’t expect the county clerk’s office to do the search for you. They won’t. You’ll have to go to the county clerk’s office yourself and do the search. The staff will show you the basics, like where the index books are located or how the index is organized on the computer. They’ll even show you how to find the book of records you’re looking for once you find something in the index of records. But, they won’t do the search for you.

Take a Look at the Tax Assessor-Collector’s Records

The county tax assessor keeps a tax roll for all real and tangible personal property located within the county. You can search most of these rolls by name. That means you can use these records to determine whether your judgment debtor may own any property in that county. Be aware that these records only show what your judgment debtor may own. They don’t show whether your judgment debtor actually owns anything at all. But, at a minimum these records do show whether your judgment debtor receives a tax bill for any property. The assessor’s records, therefore, are a good starting point for tracing ownership of real property.

If your county tax assessor doesn’t maintain a name index, other taxing authorities in your county, like the school or water districts, may have such an index. A lot of counties now even provide Internet access to their tax rolls. It’s worth checking out as a way to find your judgment debtor’s possible property interests.

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