Title 12, Title 12: Court Procedure

§ 2695. Defective execution on real estate; application Where an execution has been levied on real estate and the levy, sale, or deed is irregular, informal, or not according to law and the title derived therefrom is doubtful, within two years from the time of sale, a party inter…

§ 2696. Levy valid if affirmed or action not brought When the action is not brought within the time limited or if on hearing the presiding judge decides that the proceedings on execution were legally sufficient, a levy, sale, and deed shall be valid to convey the right, title, or…

§ 2697. Costs Costs may be taxed for either party on the action. (Amended 1971, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 72, eff. March 29, 1972.)

§ 2731. Levy on personal property When the execution with costs is not paid on demand the officer shall levy the same upon the goods or chattels of the debtor or such as are shown him or her by the creditor, and the same shall be safely kept by the officer at the debtor’s expense…

§ 2732. Goods, effects, and credits held by third person On request of the judgment creditor, the clerk of the court granting judgment shall issue to the officer holding the execution a summons as trustee to a third person having in his or her hands goods, effects, or credits, ot…

§ 2733. Advertisement (a) The officer shall forthwith advertise the goods or chattels so taken by posting at a public place in the town where they were taken a notice enumerating them and stating the time when the same will be sold at public auction at such public place, which ti…

§ 2734. Sale When the debtor does not satisfy the execution with costs and charges thereon before the time of sale, the officer shall, at the time and place appointed, sell the same, or a part thereof sufficient to satisfy the execution with the costs and charges thereon, at publ…

§ 2735. Application of proceeds The monies arising from such sales shall be applied to the payment of the charges and the satisfaction of the execution. The officer shall pay on demand the residue, if any, to the debtor.

§ 2736. Penalty for not paying to creditor An officer who, on demand, does not pay to the creditor in an execution, his or her agent or attorney, such sums of money as he or she receives on the execution, shall forfeit to the person to whose use he or she received the same, 15 pe…

§ 2737. Officer’s return The officer serving the execution shall make return thereof with his or her doings thereon, describing the goods or chattels taken and sold and the sum for which each was sold.

§ 2738. Action against officer for fraud or collusion When such officer is guilty of fraud or collusion on such sale or return, he or she shall pay the party injured three times the amount of damages occasioned by such fraud or collusion, to be recovered in an action of tort on t…

§ 2739. United States currency United States currency may be taken in execution and paid to the creditor as money collected. (Amended 1971, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 73, eff. March 29, 1972.)

§ 2740. Goods and chattels; exemptions from The goods or chattels of a debtor may be taken and sold on execution, except the following articles, which shall be exempt from attachment and execution, unless turned out to the officer to be taken on the attachment or execution, by th…

§ 2742. Security by creditor in case of doubt as to ownership or liability of chattels to attachment or execution When there is reasonable doubt as to the ownership of the goods or chattels or as to their liability to be taken on a writ of attachment or execution, the officer may…

§ 2743. Executions against municipal corporations—To issue against goods or chattels of inhabitants When judgment is rendered against a county, town, village, school, or fire district, execution shall issue against the goods or chattels of the inhabitants of such county, town, vi…

§ 2744. Demand; payment from municipal funds The officer who receives any such execution shall forthwith demand the amount thereof of the treasurer of the county, town, village, or district. Such treasurer shall pay the same with charges, if there are sufficient monies in his or …

§ 2745. Levy when not paid If the execution or a part thereof remains unpaid, at the expiration of 12 days after making such demand, and not sooner, the officer shall levy and collect the same as therein directed.

§ 2746. Payment by inhabitant whose property is taken An inhabitant whose goods or chattels are taken on such execution, may pay to the officer the amount of such execution and the charges thereon before their sale.

§ 2747. Recovery against municipality Such inhabitant shall be entitled to recover against the county, town, village, or district, the sum so paid or levied on his or her goods or chattels, with 12 percent interest thereon, in an action of contract on this statute.

§ 2781. Real estate which may be taken Houses, lands, and tenements belonging to a person in his or her own right in fee, or for his or her own life, or the life of another, paying no rents for the same, or for years, or an unlimited time, paying rents for the same, and rights in…

§ 2782. Real estate defined The words “real estate” as used in this chapter shall mean such lands, tenements, rights, and estates as are made liable to execution by section 2781 of this title.

§ 2783. Officer may lodge copy in clerk’s office When the officer holding an execution for collection is directed by the creditor, his or her agent or attorney, to levy the same on the real estate of the debtor, he or she may lodge in the office where by law a deed of such real e…

§ 2784. Estate held five months The real estate thus designated shall be held to satisfy such execution for the term of five months from the time of lodging the copy thereof, as provided in section 2783 of this title. When encumbered by previous attachments, the lien thus created…

§ 2785. Estate in joint tenancy When the real estate of a debtor is held in joint tenancy, coparcenary, or tenancy in common, with the real estate of other persons, the officer may levy the execution on such debtor’s undivided interest in such real estate, and sell the same as ot…

§ 2786. Sale of real estate on execution; public auction When an execution is levied upon real estate, the same or an undivided fractional part thereof sufficient to satisfy the execution with costs shall be sold at public auction by the officer to the highest bidder, in satisfac…

§ 2787. Notice, advertisement, and sale The officer levying the execution shall give the debtor at least 60 days’ notice of the time and place of sale in writing, served upon him or her, within or outside the State, either (1) by delivery in hand personally or (2) by registered o…

§ 2788. Notice to subsequent attaching or levying creditor When the real estate levied upon is subject to a subsequent attachment or levy, the officer shall give notice of such sale to the subsequent attaching or levying creditor in the same manner as provided for notice to the e…

§ 2789. Adjournment; manner of sale For good cause, the officer may postpone such sale for a time not exceeding seven days, and so from time to time until it is completed, giving notice of such adjournment by public proclamation at the time and place appointed for the sale. Such …

§ 2790. Officer’s deed to purchaser; effect The officer selling such real estate, if the same is not redeemed, shall make, execute, and acknowledge a sufficient deed thereof to the purchaser, and deliver the same to him or her as hereinafter provided. When the deed is recorded in…

§ 2791. Return of execution The officer commencing proceedings for sale on execution of real estate or the right to collect and receive rents, issues, and profits thereof, may make such sale, although the return day of the execution has passed, and shall return the execution with…

§ 2792. Form of deed; costs The deed executed by the officer of lands sold on execution, shall be taxed as a part of the costs on the execution at one dollar, and shall be substantially in the following form: KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, That, whereas, an execution against ...…

§ 2793. Form where attached on original writ When such real estate was attached on the original writ, the officer shall insert in the deed of sale the time of such attachment and vary the deed accordingly.

§ 2794. Execution upon real estate; homestead a part When an execution is levied upon real estate of which the debtor’s homestead is a part or upon that part of a homestead in excess of $125,000.00 in value, the location and boundaries of the homestead shall be ascertained before…

§ 2795. When encumbered by mortgage When a right of redemption in mortgaged lands is taken and sold on execution, the officer shall ascertain and state at the time of sale the value of the encumbrance, or the amount of the mortgage debt, when it can be ascertained, and state the …

§ 2796. Redemption—Bond; writ of possession; accounting by purchaser for rents and profits When real estate is sold on execution, the debtor or person claiming under him or her may redeem the same at any time within six months from the date of such sale. He or she shall file a bo…

§ 2797. Rents, profits, and waste; appraisal; collection When the parties cannot agree as to the value of the rents and profits under section 2796 of this title, either party may apply to the clerk of the court or magistrate who issued the execution, if he or she is in office and…

§ 2798. Redemption when purchaser in possession; bond; writ of possession when debtor remains in possession When the purchaser has gone into possession and the debtor wishes to redeem the premises, he or she may tender to the purchaser the amount of the purchase money less the su…

§ 2799. Costs When the debtor fails to redeem such premises, the expenses of such appraisal of such rents, profits, and damages shall be paid by the debtor. When the purchaser has gone into possession of the land and the debtor redeems, if the court finds the tender sufficient, t…

§ 2800. Certificate of redemption When the debtor redeems the premises, the clerk or magistrate shall give him or her a certificate of such redemption, at his or her expense, which, if recorded on the margin of the record of such sale, shall be full evidence that such land has be…

§ 2801. Levy on rents, issues, and profits—What may be taken The rents, issues and profits of real estate leased for life or years or leased to a person, his or her heirs and assigns perpetually, or so long as the lessee, his or her heirs and assigns perform the services or rende…

§ 2802. Officer to lodge copy in clerk’s office; notice to tenant The officer levying an execution on the rents, issues, and profits mentioned in section 2801 of this title shall lodge in the office where by law a deed of the real estate yielding or paying such rents, issues, and…

§ 2803. Return of tenant Within 15 days from the time he or she receives such notice, the tenant in possession shall make a written return under oath to such officer, stating therein the time for which he or she claims the right to hold such real estate, the amount of the rents, …

§ 2804. Sale; notice; disposition of proceeds After receiving such return, the officer may sell at public auction the debtor’s right, title, or interest to collect and receive such rents, issues, and profits, in whole or part satisfaction of such execution. Notice of the sale sha…

§ 2805. Conveyance; tenant shall attorn Within five days from such sale, if the purchase price thereof is not paid to the officer by the debtor or person claiming under him or her, such officer shall make, execute, acknowledge, and deliver to the purchaser a written instrument co…

§ 2806. Redemption by debtor At any time after such conveyance is executed to him or her, the debtor may pay the purchaser the purchase price with interest and all costs sustained by him or her, less the rents, issues, and profits he or she has received. Such purchaser’s right to…

§ 2807. Failure of tenant to make return; sale; writ of possession When the tenant in possession does not, within 15 days from the time he or she receives the notice specified in section 2802 of this title, make sworn return to the officer as therein required, such officer may se…