The "which court" run around

[InTheMiddle]

Dear Soc--

Superior Court of Arizona orders BM to pay DH $1500 towards his attorneys fees.  AZ Divorce, Child Custody, & Child Support.

BM lives in TX.

BM owns a house in TX.

BM is selling her house.  

We want to put a lien on the house for the $1500 order.

AZ Superior court says go to the AZ Justice Court.

AZ Justice Court says go to the AZ Superior Court.

TX Court asks for an AZ abstract, but no one in either AZ Courts knows what an abstract is.

1)  I sent a certified copy of the court order with appropriate filing fees to TX  Deed of Records.  Is that as good as an abstract?

2)  Which court in which state should we pursue to get the court ordered attorney's fees?

3)  BM will owe DH about $1000 in overpaid child support fees.  (She lost custody of kids 11/1/04, but it takes CS 2 months to change the order and go thru the clearing house.)  Any advice on which court we should pursue this with?

Thank you very much for all your help.

[socrateaser]

>1)  I sent a certified copy of the court order with
>appropriate filing fees to TX  Deed of Records.  Is that as
>good as an abstract?

If by Deed of Records, you mean county recorder, where deeds and other evidence of title, trust deeds, conveyances, etc., are filed, then that's not what you want.

You need to register your judgment with the clerk of the court in the county where the real property is located. Simultaneously, you want the TX court clerk to prepare and certify an abstract of judgment on your registered order. Then you will file that abstract with the county clerk (deed of records, recorder's office, or whatever they call it out in the lone star state).

Now you have a perfected lien on real property.

Of course, if the property owner doesn't sell, that lien ain't gonna get you any money. So, it would be better to wait until you know that the sale is in escrow, and then file the lien. That way the new lender won't fund for the new buyer until you get your money and release the lien.

>
>2)  Which court in which state should we pursue to get the
>court ordered attorney's fees?

District Court of the State of Texas for the County of REALPROPERTYLOCATION

>
>3)  BM will owe DH about $1000 in overpaid child support fees.
> (She lost custody of kids 11/1/04, but it takes CS 2 months
>to change the order and go thru the clearing house.)  Any
>advice on which court we should pursue this with?

Well, that depends on AZ law, and whether or not a credit for overpayment of child support is considered child support under AZ law. If it is, then you could just let AZ CSE go after the dough.

If not, then you will need to do exactly the same with your judgment for cs credit as you are doing for your attorney fees.

Actually, now that I think of it, if attorney fees in AZ are considered child support, then you could avoid all of this and go through AZ CSE. But, I doubt that it is, and I don't have time to figure it out.

[InTheMiddle]

Thank you very much for your advice, Soc.

You always come up with things I never think of.

Bettter to file.  If I lose, I've lost nothing.  If I don't file, I will never get anything.

[InTheMiddle]

I sent a certified copy of the AZ document to the TX County Clerk with the appropriate fees, and they accepted it.

It must have done something because the BM called the DH all pissed off.

[socrateaser]

>I sent a certified copy of the AZ document to the TX County
>Clerk with the appropriate fees, and they accepted it.
>
>It must have done something because the BM called the DH all
>pissed off.

I'm surprised that the clerk would record a copy of a foreign judgment. In fact, I believe that would be a violation of TX law. Nevertheless, if it's recorded, then the lender probably won't fund a new loan, and the title company will "except out" the judgment from the title insurance policy, because of the oddball cloud on title.

This does not get you a "lien," on the property, however, because you can't ask for a Writ of Execution based on that and have the Sheriff force a sale of the property to satisfy your lien. Not that this is what you want, but I'm just clarifying the legal significance.

On the other hand, if the county clerk and the court clerk are in the same building (small county stuff), then it's possible that the clerk arranged to register your order with the court, produce and abstract and then register the abstract in the real property records, all in the interest of "down home southern courtesy." If so, then lucky you.

Where I come from, the clerk would have thrown the judgment in the trash, and immediately moved on to the next one of the 600 other filings for that day.