Texas Abstract of Judgment: Telling the world about your judgment.
A Texas abstract of judgment is always filed immediately after obtaining the judgment. An abstract of judgment is a document that is filed in the property records of a county. This filing provides details about the judgment and about the debtor so that it can be properly indexed. A properly recorded and indexed abstract of judgment creates a lien on the defendant’s nonexempt real property. But this is only true in the county in which the abstract is recorded. So we make sure to file the abstract in all counties where the defendant has property.
The abstract is filed in the county where the defendant lives or where we know they own property. We will file an abstract in every county that we think there may be property to be had in the future. For example, if we know a debtor’s parents live in Houston, we will abstract in Harris county. This way, if there is an inheritance, the estate will have notice of the judgment.
This is a simple filing that we will normally file within a day or two (and sometimes the same day as) the judgment.