Legal Memorandum: Judgment Lien on Property in FL

Issue: Under Florida law, is property obtained after a judgment lien is filed subject to the lien?

The relevant portion of the Florida statutes provides that

[a] judgment, order, or decree becomes a lien on real estate in any county when a certified copy of it is recorded in the official records or judgment lien record of the county . . . and it shall be a lien for a period of 7 years from the date of the recording.

Fla. Stat. Ann. § 55.10(1) (West 1994).

In B. A. Lott, Inc. v. Padgett, 153 Fla. 304, 14 So.2d 667 (1943), the court considered a judgment lien that arose from a judgment rendered in federal court.  The court indicated that judgments rendered by a federal court create liens in the judgment debtor’s property in the manner and to the same extent as judgments arising out of state court.  Id. at 668.  In that case, a judgment lien had arisen on the deficiency judgment in 1933; under the law then in effect, it was to remain valid for a term of twenty years.  The court, in determining the property subject to the lien, explained that, “[w]hen the decree was entered in the United States District Court it became a lien on real estate belonging to the judgment debtor in Dade County, Florida, as well as any thereafter acquired by him during the life of the judgment.”  Id. at 669.  […]