1.    On filing a judgment roll upon a judgment that directs the payment of money, the clerk of the district court in which the judgment was rendered shall docket the judgment in a separate record to be known as the “judgment docket”. The judgment may be docketed in any other county upon filing with the clerk of the district court of that county a transcript of the original judgment docket.

Terms Used In North Dakota Code 28-20-13

  • Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
  • Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
  • Organization: includes a foreign or domestic association, business trust, corporation, enterprise, estate, joint venture, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, limited partnership, partnership, trust, or any legal or commercial entity. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
  • Person: means an individual, organization, government, political subdivision, or government agency or instrumentality. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
  • Property: includes property, real and personal. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.

2.    For a judgment docketed before August 1, 2021, the judgment is a lien on all the real property, except the homestead, of every person against whom the judgment is rendered, which the person may have in any county in which the judgment is docketed at the time of docketing or which the person thereafter acquires in the county, for ten years from the time of docketing the judgment in the county in which it was rendered.

3.    For a judgment docketed after August 1, 2021, the judgment is a lien on all the real property, except the homestead, of every person against whom the judgment is rendered, which the person may have in any county in which the judgment is docketed at the time of docketing or which the person thereafter acquires in the county, for twenty years from the time of docketing the judgment in the county in which it was rendered.

4.    When a judgment is docketed in a county to which unorganized territory is attached for judicial purposes, the judgment is a lien upon any real property of the judgment debtor situated in the unorganized territory to the same extent as though the real property were situated in the organized county. If the unorganized territory thereafter is organized as a county, a transcript of the judgment docket must be filed in the office of the clerk of the district court of the county within ninety days after the organization of the county, or it ceases to be a lien upon any real property in the county.