Bankruptcy Can Help Prevent a Support Lien in Ohio if You Fall Behind on Spousal and Child Support

When someone falls behind on their spousal and child support payments, their ex-spouse is permitted by law to place a lien on their home or other real estate they own. The procedure that can be different from one state to another. In most situations, the lien is filed in the county where the Debtor owns real property, usually at the local county recorder’s office.

Support Claim

This lien provides legal notice to the recipient that there is a claim being made against them. This lien could encumber the deed of a person’s house or other real estate holdings. This will give a former spouse the ability to make the property owner pay should they attempt to sell or refinance their home or other property. A lien can force the sale of a house or other property to pay a debt of support.

Bankruptcy May Prevent Filing Of Support Lien

According to the federal bankruptcy code, an attempt to record a support lien may be stopped by the filing of bankruptcy. The automatic stay statute does provide an exception regarding collection of support. Should someone file Chapter 7 bankruptcy, their ex-spouse may still collect any ongoing or unpaid support owed to them by their ex-spouse. They may still be able to file a support lien on a person’s house and other property after the chapter 7 is discharged.

Exception To The Exception

Filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy may also prevent a support lien. Under Chapter 13 bankruptcy, a lien for support can be stopped from being filed and recorded. This type of bankruptcy is also able to prevent a lien recorded previously from being enforced. The reason for this is Chapter 13 doesn’t end the collection efforts of ongoing support, it only stops the collection of support that is past-due. Chapter 13 stops the filing a recording for a lien of support because it is past-due support.

Right Conditions

Chapter 13 can protect a person from a support lien being placed on their home and other property if the right conditions are met. If these conditions are not met exactly, it is possible to lose this special protection under Chapter 13.

*A person must always be current on the payments associated with their Chapter 13 bankruptcy.

*It is important for a person to remain current on all their ongoing support payments.

*As part of the Chapter 13 bankruptcy, a person must arrange to catch up on their past-due support payments within the time limits of their Chapter 13 payment plan.

Anyone who is behind on their support payments needs to realize filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy may not prevent their former spouse from recording a support lien against their home or other property. However, when filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a person may have enough of their other debts discharged, that they may be able to get current on their support obligations.