What is a Certificate of Judgment?
A Certificate of Judgment is issued by the Court and certifies that a judgment was issued against you for a monetary amount.
What does it mean?
After a judgment is awarded, the party who the judgment is in favour of (“Judgment Creditor”) can register a Certificate of Judgment at Land Titles to place a lien on the land of the party against whom the judgment was issued (“Judgment Debtor”).
A Certificate of Judgment can also be registered against land owned by someone who is not the Judgment Debtor provided that the Judgment Debtor has an interest in those lands.
If you wish to remove the Certificate of Judgment, you have three options:
- Contact a lawyer to advise and assist you.
- Ask for a Discharge. If the judgment has been registered against your property in error, you can ask the Judgment Creditor to discharge the Certificate of Judgment. If the Judgment Creditor will not give you a discharge, you may be able to have the Certificate of Judgment removed using a 30-Day Notice.
- Apply to the Land Titles Office for a 30-Day Notice. A 30-Day Notice is a notification to the person who registered the Judgment that you are challenging their right to register it. Once notified the Judgment Creditor has 30 days to start court proceedings against you. If proof of that court action by way of Pending Litigation Order is not filed at Land Titles within 30 days, Land Titles will remove the Judgment upon your submission of a written request. The application to issue the 30-Day Notice and the request to remove the Judgment after the 30 days must both be made in writing using the Land Titles Request/Transmission form which can be found here: https://teranetmanitoba.ca/land-titles/land-titles-forms/.
There is a fee for each request. Land Titles Fee Schedule visit: https://teranetmanitoba.ca/land-titles/land-titles-fees/
Land Titles will not discharge or issue a 30-Day Notice on judgments for spousal or child support.
Land Titles will only issue the 30-Day Notice if your request contains the reason(s) you believe the Judgment is not properly registered against your property. This reason must be satisfactory to the Land Titles staff processing your application.
You may not request the notice based upon the fact that, in your opinion, the Courts made an error in issuing the judgment against you. If you feel the court has made an error, the correct procedure is to file an appeal with the Court within the required time. Appealing a decision is done strictly through the Courts, Land Titles cannot advise or assist you in this procedure.
If you want further information on the 30-Day Notice procedure, or with regard any of the above please contact the Land Titles Office at clientservice@teranet.ca and ask to speak to the District Registrar or to a Deputy District Registrar.