The death of a debtor joint tenant in a homestead extinguished lien

In Toma v. Toma, 163 P.3d 540 (Okla. 2007), the court held that an unexecuted judgment lien on the debtor’s interest in jointly held property did not survive the death of the debtor because under the common law, the debtor’s interest ceases to exist on the debtor’s death, even though the property was the debtor’s homestead until death and the lien could not be executed while the debtor held the property as homestead.

The court explained that the legislature did not change the common law when it provided that the lien could attach to the debtor’s homestead.