A District Court judgment is not a lien on real estate of the judgment debtor. The judgment has to be transferred to the Superior Court, and there it becomes an automatic lien.
In addition, once you enter the judgment in Superior Court, you can get a certified copy of the judgment and file that with the Auditor’s office in the county where the real property is located. Without getting too technical, that can sometimes give you some added benefits beyond the automatic lien.
Douglas N. Kiger, Attorney at Law
Blado Kiger Bolan, Tacoma, Wash.