Alabama · Ala. Code §§6-9-191, 6-9-210, 6-9-211, 6-10-2Alabama judgment liens at closing: the certificate of judgment, ten years and the homestead exemption

The owner of an Alabama or federal judgment may file in the office of the judge of probate of any county a certificate from the clerk of the court that entered it, showing the court, the amount and date, costs, the parties, each defendant's address and the plaintiff's attorney; the probate judge registers and indexes it under each defendant's name (Ala. Code §6-9-210). Once filed, the judgment is a lien in that county on all of the defendant's property subject to levy and sale under execution, for ten years after the date of the judgment, and the filing is notice to everyone (§6-9-211). If an action to enforce the lien starts within the ten years with a lis pendens filed with the probate judge, the lien continues on that property until the action ends (§6-9-211). A judgment is presumed satisfied when ten years pass from entry without execution, or ten years since the last execution (§6-9-191). A resident's homestead of up to 160 acres is exempt from levy, sale and execution if valued at no more than $15,000, or $56,400 for a resident 62 or older or with a disability; joint owners each claim the exemption separately (§6-10-2(a)). A mortgage or deed of the homestead by a married person is invalid without the spouse's voluntary signature and assent, shown by an acknowledgment in the statutory form (§6-10-3).