Texas: Judgment Lien Duration & Renewal Requirements

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Two different codes split this topic in Texas. The judgment's own dormancy
and revival rules live in the Civil Practice and Remedies Code (§ 34.001
for dormancy, § 31.006 for revival). The real-property lien, its
creation, recording, and duration, is a separate scheme in the Property
Code, Chapter 52 (§§ 52.001, 52.004-52.006).

How long the judgment itself lasts

There's no flat number of years after which a Texas judgment simply
expires. Instead, "if a writ of execution is not issued within 10 years
after the rendition of a judgment ..., the judgment is dormant and
execution may not be issued on the judgment unless it is revived" (§
34.001(a)). Even after one writ is issued, the clock resets: "if a writ of
execution is issued within 10 years after rendition of a judgment but a
second writ is not issued within 10 years after issuance of the first writ,
the judgment becomes dormant" (§ 34.001(b)). This rule doesn't apply to
child support judgments (§ 34.001(c)).

How long a recorded lien lasts

A lien "continues for 10 years following the date of recording and
indexing the abstract, except that if the judgment becomes dormant during
that period the lien ceases to exist" (§ 52.006(a)). That second clause is
the trap: even if the full 10 years hasn't passed, letting the underlying
judgment go dormant kills the lien immediately. A judgment "in favor of the
state or a state agency" is the one exception, its lien instead lasts up
to 20 years and "does not become dormant" under § 34.001 (§ 52.006(b)).

How to renew

There's no court motion that "renews" a Texas judgment lien the way some
states' statutes provide. Instead: a "first or subsequent abstract of
judgment, when it is recorded and indexed ..., if the judgment is not then
dormant, constitutes a lien" (§ 52.001), so recording a new abstract
while the judgment is still alive creates a fresh 10-year lien clock. To
keep the underlying judgment itself from going dormant in the first place,
a creditor has a writ of execution issued at least once every 10 years (§
34.001). If the judgment has already gone dormant, it can be revived "by
scire facias or by an action of debt" (§ 31.006), see the renewal window
below. The one exception is a government judgment's 20-year lien, which
"may be renewed for one additional 20-year period by filing, before the
expiration of the initial 20-year period, a renewed abstract of judgment in
the same manner as the original" (§ 52.006(b)).

Renewal window

For an ordinary judgment, there's no defined early-filing window for
recording a fresh abstract, it can be done any time the judgment isn't
dormant. The hard deadline that matters is on the revival side: a dormant
judgment "may be revived ... not later than the second anniversary of the
date that the judgment becomes dormant" (§ 31.006). Miss that two-year
window and the judgment can no longer be revived at all.

Recent changes or debt-type limits

No temporary or recently-enacted debt-type cap on renewal was found for
Texas judgments generally. The one carve-out in the statute is a permanent,
long-standing one rather than a recent reform: government judgments get a
longer 20-year lien (renewable once for another 20 years) instead of the
ordinary 10-year, dormancy-linked term that applies to everyone else (§
52.006(b)).

What ends the lien early

Satisfaction "in whole or in part may be shown by recordation of" either a
certified return on an execution showing the case details and the
execution's issuance and return dates, or "a receipt, acknowledgement, or
release ... signed by the party entitled to receive payment ... and ...
acknowledged or proven for record in the manner required for deeds" (§
52.005). Separately, and without any recording at all, "if the judgment
becomes dormant during that period the lien ceases to exist" (§ 52.006(a)), dormancy alone kills the lien even if no one files anything.

Recording in more than one county

A lien attaches only to real property "located in the county in which the
abstract is recorded and indexed" (§ 52.001), and each county clerk
independently "record[s]" and "enter[s] the abstract on the alphabetical
index" for that county's own real property records (§ 52.004). A creditor
whose debtor owns property in more than one county needs a separately
recorded abstract in each one.

What trips people up

The dormancy-kills-the-lien rule is the single easiest thing to miss:
someone can be diligently within a lien's "10 years from recording" window
on paper, but if they let the underlying judgment itself go dormant, by not having a writ of execution issued within its own rolling 10-year
window, the real-property lien ends immediately, not at the full 10-year
mark. The two clocks (the judgment's dormancy clock and the lien's
10-year-from-recording clock) can expire at different times, and only the
earlier one actually controls. The 2-year revival window is also easy to
miscalculate, because it runs from the date the judgment became dormant,
not from the date of the original judgment or from when a creditor
happens to notice the dormancy.

Common questions

Does a Texas judgment just expire after 10 years? Not automatically, it becomes "dormant" if no writ of execution is issued within that window,
but a dormant judgment can still be revived for up to 2 more years. After
that 2-year revival window closes, it's no longer collectible.

If my lien is only 3 years into its 10-year term, is it safe? Not
necessarily. If the underlying judgment becomes dormant during those 10
years, because no writ of execution was issued in time, the lien ends
immediately, regardless of how much of the 10 years is left.

How do I keep my judgment lien going on a debtor's property in a
different county? Record a separate abstract of judgment with that
county's clerk. A lien recorded in one county has no effect on real
property located in another.

Statutes and sources

• Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 34.001, "(a) If a writ of execution is not issued within 10 years after the rendition of a judgment of a court of record or a justice court, the judgment is dormant and execution may not be issued on the judgment unless it is revived. (b) If a writ of execution is issued within 10 years after rendition of a judgment but a second writ is not issued within 10 years after issuance of the first writ, the judgment becomes dormant. A second writ may be issued at any time within 10 years after issuance of the first writ. (c) This section does not apply to a judgment for child support under the Family Code." https://codes.findlaw.com/tx/civil-practice-and-remedies-code/civ-prac-rem-sect-34-001/ (accessed 2026-07-08)
• Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 31.006, "A dormant judgment may be revived by scire facias or by an action of debt brought not later than the second anniversary of the date that the judgment becomes dormant." https://codes.findlaw.com/tx/civil-practice-and-remedies-code/civ-prac-rem-sect-31-006/ (accessed 2026-07-08)
• Tex. Prop. Code § 52.001, "Except as provided by Section 52.0011 or 52.0012, a first or subsequent abstract of judgment, when it is recorded and indexed in accordance with this chapter, if the judgment is not then dormant, constitutes a lien on and attaches to any real property of the defendant ... that is located in the county in which the abstract is recorded and indexed, including real property acquired after such recording and indexing." https://law.justia.com/codes/texas/property-code/title-5/subtitle-b/chapter-52/subchapter-a/section-52-001/ (accessed 2026-07-08)
• Tex. Prop. Code § 52.004, "(a) The county clerk shall immediately record in the county real property records each properly authenticated abstract of judgment that is presented for recording. ... (b) At the same time an abstract is recorded, the county clerk shall enter the abstract on the alphabetical index to the real property records ...." https://law.justia.com/codes/texas/property-code/title-5/subtitle-b/chapter-52/subchapter-a/section-52-004/ (accessed 2026-07-08)
• Tex. Prop. Code § 52.005, "Satisfaction of a judgment in whole or in part may be shown by recordation of: (1) a return on an execution issued on the judgment ... or (2) a receipt, acknowledgement, or release that is signed by the party entitled to receive payment of the judgment ... and that is acknowledged or proven for record in the manner required for deeds." https://law.justia.com/codes/texas/property-code/title-5/subtitle-b/chapter-52/subchapter-a/section-52-005/ (accessed 2026-07-08)
• Tex. Prop. Code § 52.006, "(a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), a judgment lien continues for 10 years following the date of recording and indexing the abstract, except that if the judgment becomes dormant during that period the lien ceases to exist. (b) Notwithstanding Section 34.001, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, a judgment in favor of the state or a state agency ... does not become dormant. A properly filed abstract of the judgment continues to constitute a lien under Section 52.001 until the earlier of the 20th anniversary of the date the abstract is recorded and indexed or the date the judgment is satisfied or the lien is released. The judgment lien may be renewed for one additional 20-year period by filing, before the expiration of the initial 20-year period, a renewed abstract of judgment in the same manner as the original abstract of judgment is filed." https://law.justia.com/codes/texas/property-code/title-5/subtitle-b/chapter-52/subchapter-a/section-52-006/ (accessed 2026-07-08)