Delaware Code Title 10 Sec. 4711 – Time limitation of judgment lien; extension of time
(a) No judgment for the recovery of money entered or recorded in the Superior Court, whether rendered by that Court or transferred thereto from the Supreme Court, or from the dockets of a justice of the peace or the Court of Common Pleas, or operative by virtue of any writ of testatum fieri facias, or otherwise, howsoever recorded in the Court, shall continue a lien upon real estate for a longer term than 10 years next following the day of entry or recording of such judgment, or, in case the whole or any part of the money for which the judgment is recovered or rendered shall not be due and payable at or before the time of its entry or recording, the day on which such money shall have become wholly due and payable, unless, within the term of 10 years, the lien of such judgment is renewed and continued by a written agreement, signed by the plaintiff, or if there is more than 1, 1 or more of the plaintiffs therein, or the assignee or assignees thereof, or the person or persons to whose use such judgment shall have been marked, such person’s or persons’ executors or administrators, and by the defendant or defendants therein, such defendant’s or defendants’ executors or administrators, and, in order to bind lands conveyed by the defendant or defendants by deeds of record subsequent to such judgment, the terre tenant or terre tenants of the real estate bound by such lien, or, in case of a judgment upon a mechanic’s lien, the terre tenant or terre tenants of such real estate, or by the attorneys of record of the respective parties to such judgment, or of the persons interested therein, in substantially the following form, after stating the title of the cause: “It is agreed that the lien of this judgment shall be extended for the term of 10 years,” filed in the office of the prothonotary and by the prothonotary minuted and certified upon the record of the judgment, or of the testatum fieri facias, as the case may be, or by scire facias, in manner set forth in this section. If a writ of scire facias is sued out of the Court before the expiration of the term of 10 years, and the term expires during the pendency of the proceedings upon the scire facias, the lien of the judgment shall continue until final determination by the Court of the rights of the respective parties thereto, or until the discontinuance or dismissal of such scire facias. If final judgment in such scire facias is rendered against the plaintiff or plaintiffs therein, and an appeal or a writ of error is taken, and the Supreme Court renders final judgment thereon in favor of the plaintiff, plaintiff in error, or appellant, the lien of such original judgment shall be restored and continued. Such restoration or continuance of the lien by such final judgment of the Supreme Court shall not in any manner affect or be operative as against any bona fide purchaser, mortgagee or judgment creditor, who becomes such after the entry of such final judgment by the Superior Court upon such scire facias and before the noting upon the record of such final judgment in such scire facias of the taking of the appeal or writ of error.
Terms Used In Delaware Code Title 10 Sec. 4711
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
- Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
- Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. Source:
- Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
- Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
- Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
- real property: is synonymous with the phrase "lands, tenements and hereditaments. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
- State: means the State of Delaware; and when applied to different parts of the United States, it includes the District of Columbia and the several territories and possessions of the United States. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
- Terre tenant: means the grantee of real estate to whom the same has been conveyed, as appears by the last conveyance of the same of record. See Delaware Code Title 10 Sec. 4701
- Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
(b) No judgment which is a general lien, including judgments for costs and judgments in favor of the State or any political subdivision thereof, shall remain a lien for more than the 10-year period hereinabove provided, unless renewed for a further 10-year term in accordance with the provisions of this section
(c) This section shall not apply to those judgments entered of record pursuant to court-ordered restitution awards as provided in § 4101(b) of Title 11; however, no such judgment will attach to a parcel of real property for more than 7 years after the convicted person has sold, transferred, or lost their ownership interest in that specific parcel of real property.
(d) Unless extended by the procedure set forth in § 4715 of this title or the express conditions of a criminal sentencing order, the automatic lien on real property that is derived from a criminal judgment filed with the prothonotary expires 7 years from the date the convicted person sold, transferred, or lost their ownership interest in that specific parcel of real property. If a lien on real property is removed, a criminal judgment’s personal liability against a defendant remains valid and enforceable. This subsection applies to all of the following:
(1) Liens on real property derived from a criminal judgment filed with the prothonotary after October 21, 2022.
(2) Liens on real property derived from a criminal judgment filed with the Prothonotary before October 21, 2022, if the judgment is extended under § 4715 of this title by October 22, 2023.
19 Del. Laws, c. 778, § ?1; 22 Del. Laws, c. 457, § ?1; 23 Del. Laws, c. 200, § ?1; Code 1915, § ?4293; Code 1935, § ?4765; 10 Del. C. 1953, § ?4711; 50 Del. Laws, c. 319, § ?1; 70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § ?1; 74 Del. Laws, c. 27, § ?9; 83 Del. Laws, c. 497, § 2;