LIEB BLOG

Wednesday, May 08, 2013

Child Support and Maintenance as Lien Priority

Andrew M. Lieb, Esq., MPH Divorce Deals , Lieb School

At our continuing education course, Title Waves, held last week at Chase Plaza, a real estate agent inquired whether child or spousal support (maintenance) received lien priority in the same way that real estate tax liens do.

The answer is that they don't. In fact, a child support or spousal support Order is not even a lien in the first place, much less a prioritized lien. Instead, only after there are arrears and a money judgment concerning those arrears is a lien even possible.

So, in every situation, in order to even receive a lien, a judgment is necessary. To be clear, a judgment for periodic future support payments does not qualify for a lien regardless that the Judge Ordered someone to pay. The lien only arises when a Judge indicates through an Order that the payor is in default.

With respect to lien priority, only real estate tax liens and certain mechanics' liens can skip the general rule of first in time, first in right with respect to lien priority.

However, this is not the end of the discussion. You see, while there is no lien priority with respect to real property for child support and maintenance liens, CPLR 5234(b) does provide for priority with respect to personal property. In fact, the CPLR section states, in pertinent part, that "child support shall have priority over any other assignment, levy or process" with respect to satisfying an execution or order of attachment against a debtor.

So, while there is no lien priority to support obligations with respect to real property (land & structures thereon, such as a house); there is lien priority when a Sheriff sells personal property to satisfy the debt on behalf of the creditor.

Mortgage Foreclosure Alert: New Making Home Affordable Program Handbook Released - Version 4.2

Andrew M. Lieb, Esq., MPH Foreclosure Defense , HAFA

To access the new Handbook for MHA, inclusive of HAMP and HAFA, click here. While reviewing the Handbook you should be aware of the case of Flagstar Bank v. Walker wherein the Court held that the statutory good faith standard for a CPLR 3408 Foreclosure Settlement Conference is compliance with the Handbook. To review the case, click here.

This Handbook is the rules for banks / servicers to modify mortgages, so pay careful attention to detail and make sure that they comply.

President Broker is no more - DOS bans use of corporate titles

Andrew M. Lieb, Esq., MPH DOS , Lieb School

This past Friday, the NYS Department of State provided an Opinion Letter stating that the use of corporate titles by real estate agents, who do not actually hold such related authority, is misleading and impermissible.

On Friday evening attorneys and senior management at brokerage houses throughout the State were scrambling to address this issue immediately as many companies give out titles based upon agent's earnings as a reward as opposed to an implied authority and the companies needed to have a plan of action to address this change of understanding of Real Estate License Law.

Somehow the news got a hold of this Opinion Letter and now it is flying around at a rampant pace. So, what you should know is that your company can no longer permit you to utilize titles such as President, Vice President, Senior Vice President, Chairman, Vice Chairman, Managing Member, Director, Managing Director or anything else that is contained in the Business Corporation Law or Limited Liability Company Law as a term that implies authority. Instead, companies need to utilize titles without any correlated authority that does not exist.

Some articles flying around are:

The Real Deal - Brokers with false titles must now toe the line, regulators say
The Wall Street Journal - Titles Could Change for Some Real-Estate Brokers

Yet, there is no need to read the news, instead read the Opinion Letter for yourselves and understand why your companies are doing what they have to.