Q: I own a house from a previous owner with liens and the previous owner has died with no assets to pay for the liens.
Should I wait for the liens to expire, or can I ask the lien holder to release the liens before expiration date of the liens? Since the lien holder can not foreclose the house because the deceased was not the owner of the house.
A:
If the liens are abstracts of judgment, then they may expire after 10 years, but the creditor can simply renew the lien for another 10 years. Meanwhile, interest and costs are adding up.
What you describe about the purchase of the home is that you took the property subject to existing liens. Had you used title insurance and an escrow company to purchase the home, you wouldn't have this problem.
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