Recently my title officer told me to look out for child support liens as they no longer get cleared after foreclosure. Apparently it doesn't matter if the lien is filed after the recording to the 1st TD (like property taxes or IRS liens). Has anyone experienced this recently and what was the outcome? I wonder if this is only specific to my title company. If the kid is 3 years old he claims I could be on the hook for 15 years of child support payments if the supporting parent doesn't pay up.....talk about a nightmare!
You should be able to get a release as long as you pay off the lien amount that existed up to the time you purchased the property. Child support regularly issues "matured installment" notices for cases where payments are continuing but are up to date at the time of the transaction at issue. This releases the lien on the property.
Thank you Darius and Ron for the replies. Like you Ron I hadn't heard of that either. Haven't been doing it as long as you (about 11 years) but it was my title rep that told me that (I said title officer in my original post in error). He said there was a recent court decision and the title company had to pay the claim. I just called my title officer for clarification and he confirmed the lien should be wiped as long as it was recorded after the 1st TD. Sounds like my title rep might have been confused about the details. The case probably wasn't related to a trustee sale.
Be careful. I have not seen the referenced recent court decision but my understanding is that once a child support order is entered in California, a lien arises that attaches to all of the non-custodial parent's real property at the time the order is entered. The child support agency then may release the lien on a case by case basis at the time of sale and must release if at the time of sale the required installments are paid in full. They issue a matured installment notice which allows the title company to provide clear title. Recall that child support orders are not dischargeable in bankruptcy. These constitute a special class of liens due to strong public policy favoring the support of children.
Be careful. I have not seen the referenced recent court decision but my understanding is that once a child support order is entered in California, a lien arises that attaches to all of the non-custodial parent's real property at the time the order is entered. The child support agency then may release the lien on a case by case basis at the time of sale and must release if at the time of sale the required installments are paid in full. They issue a matured installment notice which allows the title company to provide clear title. Recall that child support orders are not dischargeable in bankruptcy. These constitute a special class of liens due to strong public policy favoring the support of children.
There ceases to be a lien in a foreclosure sale so, the lien is (and should be) wiped out, if recorded after the foreclosing entity. Our in house counsel states there is no such statute in California for child support liens to survive a foreclosure by the foreclosing entity if the foreclosing entity recorded their lien prior to the filing of the child support lien.
My point goes to the "if." The "recording date" on a support lien may occur as early as the entry of the initial court order. Not trying to complicate things here.
My point goes to the "if." The "recording date" on a support lien may occur as early as the entry of the initial court order. Not trying to complicate things here.
how would that matter? if the recording date, or the entry of court order is after the recording of the mortgage, it's going to get wiped out in any foreclosure and, it will be recorded after the recording of the mortgage, always, because the mortgage company wouldn't give a mortgage that is subject to a superior lien. Not intentionally anyway.
The support order will not come up in a property address/APN search. It will only come up in a name search. Easy to miss.
talking about two separate things here. Support orders are not liens and liens are not support orders. A lien can arise from a default on a support order but that lien would be subject to any liens in front of it from a recording standpoint, and if the subject property is lost through a foreclosure sale by any lienholder in front of the support lien, that support lien gets wiped out.