2020 Connecticut General Statutes
Title 52 - Civil Actions
Chapter 906 - Postjudgment Procedures
Section 52-380a - Judgment lien on real property.

(a) A judgment lien, securing the unpaid amount of any money judgment, including interest and costs, may be placed on any real property by recording, in the town clerk's office in the town where the real property lies, a judgment lien certificate, signed by the judgment creditor or his attorney or personal representative, containing: (1) A statement of the names and last-known addresses of the judgment creditor and judgment debtor, the court in which and the date on which the judgment was rendered, and the original amount of the money judgment and the amount due thereon; and (2) a description, which need not be by metes and bounds, of the real property on which a lien is to be placed, and a statement that the lien has been placed on such property.

(b) From the time of the recording of the judgment lien certificate, the money judgment shall be a lien on the judgment debtor's interest in the real property described. If, within four months of judgment, the lien is placed on real property which was previously attached in the action, the lien on that property shall hold from the date of attachment, provided the judgment lien certificate contains a clause referring to and identifying the attachment, substantially in the following form: “This lien is filed within four months after judgment in the action was rendered and relates back to an attachment of real property recorded on (month) (day) (year), at Volume ___ Page ___ of the ___ land records.”

(c) A judgment lien on real property may be foreclosed or redeemed in the same manner as mortgages on the same property. In the case of a consumer judgment, the complaint shall indicate whether, pursuant to an installment payment order under subsection (b) of section 52-356d, the court has entered a stay of execution and, if such a stay was entered, shall allege any default on an installment payment order which is a precondition to foreclosure. No action to foreclose a judgment lien filed pursuant to this section may be commenced unless an execution may issue pursuant to section 52-356a. The judgment lien shall expire twenty years after the judgment was rendered, except any judgment lien recorded with respect to a small claims action shall expire ten years after the judgment was rendered, unless the party claiming the lien commences an action to foreclose it within that period of time and records a notice of lis pendens in evidence thereof on the land records of the town in which the real property is located.

(P.A. 83-581, S. 14, 40; P.A. 84-527, S. 10; P.A. 16-194, S. 5.)

History: P.A. 84-527 amended Subsec. (c) to require the complaint in the case of a consumer judgment to indicate whether pursuant to an installment payment order the court has entered a stay of execution and to prohibit the commencement of an action to foreclose a judgment lien unless an execution may issue pursuant to Sec. 52-356a; P.A. 16-194 amended Subsec. (c) by adding “, except any judgment lien recorded with respect to a small claims action shall expire ten years after the judgment was rendered,”.

Cited. 210 C. 221; 219 C. 620; Id., 810; 220 C. 643. Where judgment lien certificate included information to allow a party acting with common prudence and ordinary diligence to ascertain original amount of the judgment secured, judgment lien was not rendered invalid or unenforceable because it did not contain such original amount; statute not subject to strict construction. 289 C. 692.

Cited. 8 CA 512; 28 CA 809; 30 CA 52; 39 CA 518. Legislative intent of section is to achieve the conformity necessary to make procedures for recording of state judgment liens applicable to in-state federal judgment liens under 28 USC 1962. 78 CA 305.

Subsec. (b):

Creditor seeking to assert priority rights pursuant to section and Sec. 52-328(b) must file a judgment lien within 4 months of a trial court's final judgment in creditor's favor, regardless of the possible pendency of an appeal. 238 C. 172.

Subsec. (c):

Deficiency judgment rendered pursuant to Sec. 49-14 may be obtained in judgment lien foreclosure actions brought pursuant to this section. 255 C. 379.