Appellate Practice Attorney serving New York, NY
You need to check with a NM attorney about whether this house qualifies as exempt from collection efforts under NM law. Assuming it does not (different states have different homestead exemptions), the judgment would initially be a lien on your house (not sure of the procedure in NM; in NY, a judgment is automatically recorded as a lien on any real property the debtor owns in that county), but if you don't pay the judgment, the creditor could foreclose on that lien and force the sale of the house. With interest and fees, you would likely have nothing left. However, if you pay the judgment (perhaps by taking out another mortgage or home equity loan) that would be the end of it.
Answered on Jan 02nd, 2018 at 11:15 AM