Kentucky Judgment Collection
Most of what is published about Kentucky judgment liens is out of date, and it is out of date in the direction that costs creditors money. Until 29 June 2023 a Kentucky judgment lien could be renewed again and again with no ceiling. House Bill 83 ended that. A lien created on or after that date now expires ten years after the judgment was entered, and it can be extended exactly once, for no more than five further years, on a notice that has to be on file at least 120 days before it lapses. Running alongside it, and measured from a completely different event, is the fifteen-year limitation in KRS 413.090(1) – computed, in the statute’s own words, from the date of the last execution. Two clocks, two starting events, two lengths. Our contribution is factual rather than legal: establishing who the debtor is, where they are, and what the county records show they own, so the filings your lawyer makes against those deadlines are aimed at something real. Nothing is looked at until a purpose the law permits has been stated for the file. This is a public-records research practice; it practises no law and collects no debts. Below is general information about Kentucky law, not legal advice.
The Short Version
Kentucky has no dormancy and no revival. It has two independent clocks. The judgment is governed by KRS 413.090(1), which allows fifteen years for an action upon a judgment, computed from the date of the last execution – so each execution restarts it. The lien is governed by KRS 426.720, and since House Bill 83 took effect on 29 June 2023 a lien expires ten years after the date the final judgment was entered and may be extended one time only, by up to five years, on a notice filed at least 120 days before expiry. Kentucky also requires the creditor to serve the debtor with the notice of judgment lien, reprinting the homestead exemption statute in it. Our part is the record work underneath: identity, whereabouts, and what the county records actually show. General information, not legal advice.
Watch: Kentucky Judgment Collection
What changed in June 2023, and who has not noticed yet.
Watch Overview
29 June 2023: the Date That Reset Kentucky
Perpetual renewal ended, and much of the published guidance did not notice.
For thirty-five years Kentucky judgment liens worked one way, and since 29 June 2023 they have worked another. KRS 426.720 was created in 1988 and amended in 2013, and under both versions a creditor who kept filing could keep a lien alive without limit. House Bill 83, enacted as 2023 Ky. Acts ch. 177, replaced that with a fixed life and a single extension.
The shape of the new rule is easy to state and easy to miss. A lien created on or after that date expires ten years after the date the final judgment was entered. Note the event: not ten years from filing the notice, not ten years from the last activity, ten years from entry of the judgment. A creditor who waits three years before filing a notice of judgment lien has not bought ten years of lien; they have bought seven, because three of them were already spent.
Liens that predate the amendment get their own rule, in subsection (2)(a): they expire on the earlier of the limitations period for the underlying judgment under KRS 413.090, or ten years after 29 June 2023. That second limb puts an outer wall under every legacy Kentucky lien at 29 June 2033, however many times it was renewed under the old regime. A portfolio of old Kentucky liens is therefore not the perpetual asset it was originally acquired as, and the ones with real value behind them are the ones to identify now rather than in 2032.
That makes the extension decision consequential in a way it never used to be. When renewal was unlimited, renewing was close to costless and creditors renewed on autopilot. With one extension available, extending a lien over a debtor who owns nothing spends the only extension there is.
Two Clocks, Two Starting Events
Fifteen years from the last execution; ten years from entry.
Kentucky’s second peculiarity is that the judgment and the lien are measured from different events, so they drift apart over the life of a file.
The judgment. KRS 413.090(1) allows fifteen years for an action upon a judgment or decree, and adds a clause that changes everything: the period to be computed from the date of the last execution thereon. This is a rolling limitation. Each execution restarts the fifteen years. In Wade v. Poma Glass & Specialty Windows, Inc., 394 S.W.3d 886 (Ky. 2012), the Supreme Court of Kentucky quoted that clause and italicised it as the key issue in the case – the emphasis is the court’s, not ours. A judgment that has been actively executed on for twenty years may still be well inside its limitation; a judgment never executed on may not be.
The lien. KRS 426.720(2)(b) runs its ten years from the date the final judgment was entered, and nothing the creditor does afterwards resets it. Executions do not extend it. Payments do not extend it. Only the single 120-day-notice extension in subsection (3)(b) touches it, and only once.
Put those together and you get situations that surprise people. A creditor who has executed diligently for a decade may find the judgment healthy and the lien gone, because diligence resets one clock and not the other. The reverse also happens: a lien filed and extended by the book, sitting over a judgment nobody has executed on since it was entered, quietly approaching the KRS 413.090 wall. Which clock is the live problem is a question for your lawyer; how the same question is answered elsewhere is set out in our state-by-state comparison of judgment durations, and the lien mechanics of other jurisdictions in the judgment lien guide by state.
The Notice Kentucky Makes You Serve
A debtor-facing requirement most states do not have.
KRS 426.720(1) does not simply let a judgment become a lien. It sets out three things that must all happen before a final judgment acts as a lien on real estate in a given county, and they are conjunctive.
First, the creditor or their counsel files a notice of judgment lien with the county clerk, stating the court of record that entered the judgment, the civil action number, the date the judgment was entered, and the amount including principal, interest rate, court costs and any attorney fees. The date of entry was added by House Bill 83, and it is not decoration – it is the fact from which the ten years now run, so the statute now makes the creditor write the expiry date’s starting point onto the instrument.
Second, the creditor sends the debtor, or the debtor’s attorney of record, a copy of that notice, by regular first class mail postage prepaid or by personal delivery. And the copy is not bare: it must include the text of KRS 427.060 and a notice to the judgment debtor in substantially the statute’s own words – that the debtor may be entitled to an exemption under KRS 427.060, reprinted below, and that if they believe they are entitled to assert an exemption they should seek legal advice. Kentucky makes the creditor hand the debtor the exemption statute.
Third, the creditor certifies on the notice itself that a copy was mailed in compliance with the second step. The certification is on the recorded instrument, which means the file shows on its face whether the step was taken.
This has a very practical consequence for the factual work. The whole structure depends on a last known address for the debtor, and a stale one does not merely risk the mail bouncing – it sits on a certified, recorded instrument. Establishing a current, corroborated address before the notice is drafted is cheaper than discovering the problem afterwards, and it is the core of judgment debtor location. Subsection (4) then has the county clerk enter these notices in the lis pendens records and note the entry on the original, which is where a later searcher will find them.
One Extension, and 120 Days to Take It
The renewal mechanics, and the deadline before the deadline.
Subsection (3) of KRS 426.720 gives two ways to hold a lien past its expiry date, and both have to be started early.
The first is for a lien already being enforced. If a proceeding to enforce the lien is filed in a court of record before the expiry date, and a notice of that enforcement proceeding is lodged in the county where the notice of judgment lien is recorded, the expiry is postponed. The notice has to name the court, the type of proceeding, the case number and the filing date, and carry a certification that the filer will comply with the follow-up step. The postponed lien then expires when final judgment is entered in the enforcement proceeding, or when that proceeding is dismissed – and within ten days of that date the creditor must file a further notice recording the new expiry date.
The second is the extension proper, and it is the one with the trap in it. Not less than 120 days prior to the date of expiration, the creditor or their counsel files a notice of judgment lien renewal in the county where the original notice is lodged, containing everything the original notice required plus the amount of the judgment lien that remains unsatisfied, and sends a copy to the debtor’s last known address by first class mail or personal delivery. A judgment lien may be extended in this way one (1) time, for a period not to exceed five (5) years from the expiration date established by subsection (2).
Read the 120 days carefully, because it is a deadline in front of the deadline. The operative date in a Kentucky file is not the tenth anniversary of entry; it is 120 days before that. A creditor who diarises the anniversary has diarised a date on which it is already too late. And because the extension is available once, the decision it forces is whether this debtor is worth the only extension the statute allows – which is a factual question about assets before it is a legal one. How other states handle the equivalent decision is covered on our judgment renewal page.
What the Lien Reaches, and What It Cannot
The 1980 homestead figure, and where the hard limits on our work sit.
The exemption Kentucky makes you serve on the debtor is worth reading, because its number tells its own story. KRS 427.060 exempts an individual debtor’s aggregate interest, not exceeding five thousand dollars, in real or personal property used as a permanent residence in Kentucky, or in a burial plot, from sale under execution, attachment or judgment. The exceptions are for foreclosing a mortgage given by the homestead owner and for purchase money, and the exemption does not apply where the debt existed before the property was bought or the improvements were built. Printed under it is an effective date of 9 April 1980. That figure has not moved in more than four decades, which is a fact about the statute rather than a comparison with anywhere else. The wider exemption picture is collected on our Kentucky asset exemptions page, and Kentucky’s garnishment rules on our Kentucky wage garnishment laws page, rather than being restated here.
What belongs here instead is where the record work stops. Two limits are absolute. The first is pretexting: no call is ever made pretending to be the debtor, no misrepresentation is ever made to a county clerk, an employer or a bank, and the contents and balances of private financial accounts are never obtained. If a record cannot be reached lawfully, it is reported as unavailable.
The second is safety, and Kentucky’s own courts supply the vocabulary. Kentucky issues domestic violence orders and interpersonal protective orders under KRS Chapters 403 and 456, and the Commonwealth operates a confidential address program through the Secretary of State for people who have fled abuse. Where the person to be found appears to be a victim of domestic violence, is protected by such an order, or has evidently gone to ground because being located would put them in danger, the work stops and the reason is given. Holding a valid Kentucky judgment does not change that answer, and neither does recasting the request as an asset search.
Two Kinds of Question, Two Places They Get Answered
Kentucky deadlines, and who is responsible for meeting each one.
| Kentucky question | Record research answers | Kentucky counsel answers |
|---|---|---|
| Is the person in the county index our judgment debtor? | Yes – identity settled before anything is filed. Records | Whether to file, extend, or let the lien go. |
| Which of the 120 counties hold their real estate? | Yes – recorded ownership, county by county. | Where a notice of judgment lien is worth lodging. |
| What address goes on the notice served under 426.720(1)(b)? | Yes – a current address, corroborated and dated. | Whether service as made satisfies the statute. |
| When does the 120-day extension deadline fall? | No – it is computed from the entry date in your own judgment. | The date, and whether the single extension is still available. |
| Does the KRS 427.060 homestead exemption apply here? | No. Outside the scope of records research. | Counsel applies Kentucky exemption law. |
| Has the debtor left Kentucky? | Yes – whereabouts and holdings in the new state, sourced. | Domestication, and that state’s own limitation period. |
The middle column is the whole offer: four Kentucky questions with record-based answers and two without. Getting the four right is what makes the single available extension a considered decision rather than a reflex, and what keeps a certified, recorded notice from carrying an address that was already years out of date when it was sworn to.
Kentucky Files That Land Here
Six recurring shapes, and the question under each.
A lien approaching year ten
The single extension is still available and nobody knows whether it is worth spending.
A pre-2023 legacy lien
Renewed repeatedly under the old rule, now facing the June 2033 outer wall.
A notice about to be served
The statute requires service on the debtor, and the only address on file is old.
A judgment never executed on
Fifteen years running from entry rather than from any later execution.
Real estate in an unknown county
Kentucky has 120 of them, and the notice only binds where it is filed.
A debtor who left the Commonwealth
Holdings now recorded elsewhere, ahead of any domestication decision.
Four Passes Over the Record
Each one closing a question the next pass depends on.
Identity, before anything else
County indexes are name-based, so a common Kentucky surname is a real hazard. The match is proven, not assumed.
A current, dateable address
Because KRS 426.720 makes the creditor serve the debtor and certify it, the address is an evidentiary item, not a convenience.
County-by-county ownership
Recorded real estate, vehicles, business interests and lis pendens entries across the counties that matter.
A report counsel can file from
Every item carries its source and its date, and the report says plainly where the record runs out.
Who Brings Us Kentucky Work
Creditors and counsel working against the new deadlines.
Judgment Holders
Kentucky judgments entered at any date
Real Estate Counsel
Notices of judgment lien and renewals
Community Banks
Deficiencies after a secured sale
Regional Suppliers
Trade accounts reduced to judgment
Healthcare Providers
Unpaid balances carried for years
Lien Portfolio Holders
Pre-2023 liens facing the 2033 wall
The recurring Kentucky question is not what the law says – House Bill 83 is short and clear – but whether a particular debtor still justifies the one extension the statute allows. That is answered from records. One thing to be plain about, since lenders and providers appear in that list: this is not a consumer reporting agency and nothing produced here is a consumer report. It may not be used to decide whether to lend, hire, rent or insure. Those are Fair Credit Reporting Act decisions and they belong to a consumer reporting agency; asked for one, we will say so and point you there. For enforcement work, send the judgment, its entry date and the purpose the law permits you to act under, and a first read usually returns inside 24 hours.
Our Commitment
Kentucky now gives a lien one extension and no more, which makes the question of whether a judgment is worth extending sharper than it used to be. The work here answers that question with records rather than optimism: who the debtor is, whether the person in the county index is the same person named in the judgment, where they live now, and what sits in their name across Kentucky’s 120 county clerks’ offices. Findings arrive sourced and dated, and the limits of what could be established are stated as plainly as the findings themselves. Filing the notice, serving it, extending it and arguing about exemptions are your lawyer’s work and are left there.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did House Bill 83 change?
It ended perpetual renewal. Before 29 June 2023 a Kentucky judgment lien could be renewed indefinitely, so a diligent creditor could keep one alive more or less forever. KRS 426.720 as amended now sets a ten-year life measured from the date the final judgment was entered, and permits a single extension of no more than five years. It also added the date of the final judgment to the information a notice of judgment lien must contain. Anyone working from pre-2023 guidance is working from a rule that no longer exists.
How long is a Kentucky judgment lien good for?
For a lien created on or after 29 June 2023, ten years from the date the final judgment was entered, under KRS 426.720(2)(b). For a lien created before that date, subsection (2)(a) sets expiry at the earlier of the KRS 413.090 limitation period or ten years after 29 June 2023. Which limb applies to a given lien is a legal question, and older liens are precisely the ones where it is worth asking it early rather than at the deadline.
Can I renew a Kentucky judgment lien?
Once. KRS 426.720(3)(b)2 permits a judgment lien to be extended one time, for a period not to exceed five years from the expiration date set by subsection (2). The notice of renewal must be filed not less than 120 days before expiry in the county where the notice of judgment lien is lodged, must repeat the information required for the original notice and state the amount still unsatisfied, and a copy must go to the debtor by first class mail or personal delivery.
So how long does the judgment itself last?
That is a different clock with a different starting point, and conflating the two is the most common Kentucky error. KRS 413.090(1) gives fifteen years for an action upon a judgment, and the statute says the period is to be computed from the date of the last execution. The Supreme Court of Kentucky underlined exactly that phrase in Wade v. Poma Glass & Specialty Windows, Inc., 394 S.W.3d 886 (Ky. 2012). A creditor who executes periodically is restarting fifteen years each time; one who never executes is not.
Does Kentucky have dormancy and revival?
No. There is no dormancy statute and no revivor proceeding in Kentucky, which is what distinguishes it from Ohio or Georgia, where a judgment can go to sleep and be woken. In Kentucky the two deadlines simply run, and one of them can be reset by executing. KRS 426.030, which is sometimes cited as if it were a dormancy provision, is nothing of the kind: it is a 1942 recodification providing that execution shall not issue until ten days after the judgment is rendered unless the court orders otherwise.
What has to be served on the debtor?
More than most states require. Under KRS 426.720(1)(b) the creditor or their counsel must send the debtor, or the debtor’s attorney of record, a copy of the notice of judgment lien by regular first class mail or by personal delivery. That copy must include the text of KRS 427.060 and a notice in substantially these terms: that the debtor may be entitled to an exemption under KRS 427.060, reprinted below, and should seek legal advice if they believe they are entitled to assert it. Paragraph (c) then requires the creditor to certify on the notice itself that the copy was mailed.
How much is Kentucky’s homestead exemption?
Five thousand dollars. KRS 427.060 exempts a debtor’s aggregate interest, not exceeding $5,000 in value, in real or personal property used as a permanent residence, or in a burial plot, from sale under execution, attachment or judgment, with exceptions for foreclosing a mortgage given by the homestead owner or for purchase money. The figure has an effective date of 9 April 1980 printed under it and has not been changed since. Whether it applies to a particular debtor is for your lawyer.
Where does the notice of judgment lien get filed?
With the county clerk, under KRS 426.720(1)(a), in any county where the debtor holds an ownership interest in real estate – and Kentucky has 120 counties, so this is a county-by-county exercise rather than a statewide one. Subsection (4) directs the clerk to enter the notices in the lis pendens records and to note the entry on the original. Establishing which counties are actually worth filing in is a records question, and it is the one we answer.
Before the Kentucky Clock Runs Out
If a Kentucky lien is inside its final years, the decision to extend is worth making against facts rather than a stale address. Send the judgment, the entry date, and the lawful basis you are acting on. Back comes a sourced picture of the debtor and what the county records hold in their name, usually inside 24 hours, in a form your lawyer can act on. Contact us to begin.
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