The Texas Legislature enacted Texas Property Code §52.0012 in an attempt to streamline the process for releasing a judgment lien on homestead property through the filing of a homeowner’s affidavit. But, in reality, this amendment has not resolved much, and it actually may create additional issues with which creditors, debtors and title companies need to contend. Texas lawyers need to have strategies in place to effectively use and respond to this relatively new provision of Texas law.
Texas lawyers know that judgment liens do not attach to Texas homesteads, which are exempt as a matter of law. But title companies often require a partial release of a judgment lien to complete a transaction on a homestead; the practical effect of an abstract of judgment is to tie up a homestead when it should not do so from a legal standpoint. So, judgment creditors face requests for releases of judgment liens on homesteads, and judgment debtors must ask for these releases to complete a sale of their homestead.
