The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 12: Court Procedure

Chapter 111: Levy of Execution

• Subchapter 001: GENERALLY

• § 2681. Executions in Supreme and Superior Courts; time

  (a) The Supreme and Superior Courts may issue executions on final judgments rendered by them, which shall be made returnable within 60 days from the date thereof. Such executions may be issued so long as the judgment remains unsatisfied, but not after eight years from the date of rendition of the judgment, except as provided in subsection (b) of this section.

  (b) Executions on small claims court judgments may be made so long as the judgment remains unsatisfied, but not after eight years from the date of rendition of the judgment. Actions to renew small claims court judgments shall be brought by filing a complaint in small claims court prior to the expiration of the judgment, and may be made for the amount of the judgment and any postjudgment costs, fees, and interest allowed by law. (Amended 1971, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 65, eff. March 29, 1972; 1979, No. 67, § 5, eff. date, see note set out below; 2007, No. 39, § 6.)

• § 2682. Names of attorneys to be indorsed

  The name of an attorney of record for the plaintiff, and for the defendant, if any, shall be indorsed on such execution by the officer signing the same.

• § 2683. Executions on judgments of District Courts; time

  Executions issued upon a judgment rendered by a District Court shall be made returnable within 60 days from the date thereof. Such executions may be issued so long as the judgment remains unsatisfied, but not after eight years from the date of rendition of the judgment. (Amended 1965, No. 194, § 10, eff. July 1, 1965, operative Feb. 1, 1967; 1973, No. 249 (Adj. Sess.), § 18, eff. April 9, 1974; 1979, No. 67, § 6, eff. date, see note set out below.)

• § 2684. Collection of execution enjoined, time not reckoned

  When the collection of an execution in the hands of an officer is enjoined, such officer may retain the same. If the injunction is vacated, the time between the issuing and vacating thereof shall not be included in counting the number of days the execution has to run. Upon the vacating of such injunction, the clerk of the Superior Court, on demand, shall give the plaintiff in such execution a certificate of the date of the injunction and when vacated. On receipt of such certificate, the officer holding such execution shall proceed to levy and collect the execution, and shall annex such certificate to his or her return thereon. (1971, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 236, eff. March 29, 1972.)

• § 2685. Continuance of subsequent attachments

  If attached property is encumbered by a prior attachment, the subsequent attachment shall continue after the removal of the encumbrance for such time as the Supreme Court may by rule provide for the continuance of attachments generally. (Amended 1971, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 66, eff. March 29, 1972.)

• § 2686. Execution for subsequent attaching creditor

  (a) When a subsequent attaching creditor recovers judgment while a prior action is pending, on which the same property is attached, he or she may take an execution on such judgment at any time within 30 days after all prior attachments are discharged, if the property attached is personal property, and, if real estate, within five months after the prior attachments are discharged, though more than a year and a day have passed after the rendition of such judgment. If an execution was taken out at the time of the rendition of such judgment, which is unsatisfied, the plaintiff may take out other executions thereon within the time aforesaid, though the judgment has lain dormant for more than a year and a day. Such execution, or other executions, if so taken out, shall hold the lien on the goods or estate so attached, if put into the hands of the attaching officer within 30 days after the discharge of all liens on such property, if the property was personal, or five months, if real estate.

  (b) If more than a year and a day have expired from the rendition of the judgment, the magistrate issuing such execution shall state therein that the plaintiff was a subsequent attaching creditor.

• § 2687. Repealed. 1971, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 237, eff. March 29, 1972.

• § 2688. Officer to endorse time of receiving; preference

  When an execution issued on a judgment is received by an officer authorized by law to levy and serve the same, he or she shall endorse thereon, without fee, the day of the month and year when he or she received it. If two or more executions are delivered to him or her against the same person, the one first delivered shall be first satisfied.

• § 2689. Officer to demand payment

  Such officer shall repair to the debtor’s usual place of abode, if within his or her precinct, and demand of the debtor the sum required to be levied by such execution, with the interest thereon, and the charges for serving the same.

• § 2690. Appointment of agent of creditor

  When an execution is delivered to an officer for service in a county other than that in which the creditor or his or her attorney of record resides, such creditor or such attorney shall endorse on the execution the name of a person in the county in which the execution is to be levied, to be the agent of the creditor for the purpose of receiving the money on such execution and for giving to or receiving from such officer necessary notices relating thereto. Notices given to such agent shall be as effectual as if given to the creditor.

• § 2691. Executions against trustees of colleges or proprietors of undivided lands

  When judgment is rendered against the trustees of colleges or academies or proprietors of undivided lands, execution shall issue against the goods, chattels, or lands of such trustees or proprietors.

• § 2692. Invalid and informal levies—New execution

  When an execution is levied on real or personal estate, and it afterwards appears that the estate did not belong to the debtor, or was encumbered by a mortgage not regarded in a sale thereof on execution, by reason of which the levy and sale are void, the court, upon motion, notice, and hearing, may issue an execution for the original execution, or so much thereof as was satisfied by the levy, and the costs thereon with interest on the same from the time of the levy, and the costs of the motion. (Amended 1971, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 67, eff. March 29, 1972.)

• § 2693. When costs not allowed

  When it appears that the estate was turned out to the officer by the creditor or taken without the consent of the debtor, the creditor shall not recover costs on the former execution or on the motion. (Amended 1971, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 68, eff. March 29, 1972.)

• § 2694. Repealed. 1973, No. 249 (Adj. Sess.), § 111, eff. April 9, 1974.

• § 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 interested may bring an action in the Superior Court, setting forth in the complaint the respects in which it is claimed the proceedings on the execution were irregular, informal, and not according to law. Upon hearing, the presiding judge may grant the plaintiff and all parties interested such relief as is equitable. (Amended 1971, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 70, eff. March 29, 1972; 1973, No. 193 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. April 9, 1974.)

• § 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 interest that the judgment debtor had at the time of the levy in the real estate sold and shall be conclusive evidence of the title in the estate against the debtor or his or her representatives. (Amended 1971, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 71, eff. March 29, 1972.)

• § 2697. Costs

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

• Subchapter 002: PERSONAL PROPERTY, LEVY, AND SALE

• § 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, until sold or the execution is otherwise satisfied.

• § 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, other than earnings, of the debtor that have not previously been attached on trustee process in connection with the action. The summons shall be in such form as the Supreme Court may by rule provide for a summons to a trustee in connection with the commencement of an action and shall state the date and amount of the judgment. The summons shall be served by the officer upon the trustee in like manner and with the same effect as mesne process. A copy of the summons shall be served upon the judgment debtor with the officer’s endorsement thereon of the date of service upon the trustee. After service of the summons, proceedings shall be had as provided by law and by rule promulgated by the Supreme Court for trustee process in connection with the commencement of an action. (Added 1971, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 235, eff. March 29, 1972.)

• § 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 time shall not be less than 14 days from the time of posting such notice. If the amount of the execution is $50.00 or more and if the cost of publication does not exceed $2.00, such notice shall also be published two weeks successively prior to such sale in at least one newspaper published in such town, if there are any published therein, and, if not, in a newspaper of known circulation in such town.

  (b) When the property levied upon is hay, grain in the straw, potatoes, timber, lumber, brick, lime, coal, charcoal, ashes, machinery used in a shop, mill or factory, hides in the process of tanning, cordwood, stone, ore, bark, shingles, hives of bees, hay scales, or the utensils and apparatus kept on a farm for the manufacture of maple sugar, the notice shall state the time when the same will be sold, either at the place where the same are kept by the officer or at such public place.

• § 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 public auction to the highest bidder.

• § 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 percent interest thereon, so long as he or she detains it after demand, to be recovered in an action of tort on this statute.

• § 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 this statute, with costs.

• § 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 the debtor:

  (1) the debtor’s interest, not to exceed $2,500.00 in aggregate value, in a motor vehicle or motor vehicles;

  (2) the debtor’s interest, not to exceed $5,000.00 in aggregate value, in professional or trade books or tools of the profession or trade of the debtor or a dependent of the debtor;

  (3) a wedding ring;

  (4) the debtor’s interest, not to exceed $500.00 in aggregate value, in other jewelry held primarily for the personal, family, or household use of the debtor or a dependent of the debtor;

  (5) the debtor’s interest, not to exceed $2,500.00 in aggregate value, in household furnishings, goods or appliances, books, wearing apparel, animals, crops, or musical instruments that are held primarily for the personal, family, or household use of the debtor or a dependent of the debtor;

  (6) growing crops, not to exceed $5,000.00 in aggregate value;

  (7) the debtor’s aggregate interest in any property, not to exceed $400.00 in value, plus up to $7,000.00 of any unused amount of the exemptions provided under subdivisions (1), (2), (4), (5) and (6) of this section;

  (8) one cooking stove, appliances needed for heating, one refrigerator, one freezer, one water heater, sewing machines;

  (9) ten cords of firewood, five tons of coals, or 500 gallons of oil;

  (10) 500 gallons of bottled gas;

  (11) one cow, two goats, 10 sheep, 10 chickens, and feed sufficient to keep the cow, goats, sheep, or chickens through one winter;

  (12) three swarms of bees and their hives with their produce in honey;

  (13) one yoke of oxen or steers or two horses kept and used for team work;

  (14) two harnesses, two halters, two chains, one plow, and one ox yoke;

  (15) the debtor’s interest, not to exceed $700.00 in value, in bank deposits or deposit accounts of the debtor;

  (16) the debtor’s interest in self-directed retirement accounts of the debtor, including all pensions, all proceeds of and payments under annuity policies or plans, all individual retirement accounts, all Keogh plans, all simplified employee pension plans, and all other plans qualified under sections 401, 403, 408, 408A or 457 of the Internal Revenue Code. However, an individual retirement account, Keogh plan, simplified employee pension plan, or other qualified plan, except a Roth IRA, is only exempt to the extent that contributions thereto were deductible or excludable from federal income taxation at the time of contribution, plus interest, dividends, or other earnings that have accrued on those contributions, plus any growth in value of the assets held in the plan or account and acquired with those contributions. A Roth IRA is exempt to the extent that contributions thereto did not exceed the contribution limits set forth in section 408A of the Internal Revenue Code, plus interest, dividends, or other earnings on the Roth IRA from such contributions, plus any growth in value of the assets held in the Roth IRA acquired with those contributions. No contribution to a self-directed plan or account shall be exempt if made less than one calendar year from the date of filing for bankruptcy, whether voluntarily or involuntarily. Exemptions under this subdivision shall not exceed $5,000.00 for the purpose of attachment of assets by the office of child support pursuant to 15 V.S.A. § 799;

  (17) professionally prescribed health aids for the debtor or a dependent of the debtor;

  (18) any unmatured life insurance contract owned by the debtor, other than a credit life insurance contract;

  (19) property traceable to or the debtor’s right to receive, to the extent reasonably necessary for the support of the debtor and any dependents of the debtor:

  (A) Social Security benefits;

  (B) veteran’s benefits;

  (C) disability or illness benefits;

  (D) alimony, support, or separate maintenance;

  (E) compensation awarded under a crime victim’s reparation law;

  (F) compensation for personal bodily injury, pain and suffering, or actual pecuniary loss of the debtor or an individual on whom the debtor is dependent;

  (G) compensation for the wrongful death of an individual on whom the debtor was dependent;

  (H) payment under a life insurance contract that insured the life of an individual on whom the debtor was dependent on the date of that individual’s death;

  (I) compensation for loss of future earnings of the debtor or an individual on whom the debtor was or is dependent;

  (J) payments under a pension, annuity, profit-sharing, stock bonus, or similar plan or contract on account of death, disability, illness, or retirement from or termination of employment. (Amended 1987, No. 233 (Adj. Sess.); 1999, No. 12, § 1; 2001, No. 13, § 1.)

• § 2741. Repealed. 1979, No. 67, § 9, eff. date, see note set out below.

• § 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 require sufficient security to indemnify him or her for taking the same. If the creditor, his or her agent or attorney does not, within a reasonable time after the request, give the security to the officer, he or she may release them to the person from whom they were taken, at any time before the sale of the goods or chattels, and may take other goods or chattels, or, when permitted under section 2741 of this title, the body of the debtor, and for want thereof may return a non est inventus. (Amended 1971, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 75, eff. March 29, 1972.)

• § 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, village, school, or fire district, and may be levied and collected of the same.

• § 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 her hands belonging to such county, town, village, or district.

• § 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.

• Subchapter 003: REAL ESTATE; LEVY, SALE, AND REDEMPTION

• § 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 equity of redeeming lands mortgaged, or in reversion or remainder, as well as his or her personal estate, shall stand charged with the debts and demands owing by such person, and may be taken in execution for the same at the election of the creditor, unless the debtor, his or her agent or attorney, exposes and tenders personal estate sufficient to satisfy the execution and the charges.

• § 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 estate is required to be recorded, a certified copy of the execution, with a certificate thereon, under his or her hand, stating that he or she is directed to levy the same on such real estate, designating the same as it would be described in case of the attachment of real estate.

• § 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 shall remain, after the removal of such encumbrance, as if the estate had been attached on mesne process by the creditor in such execution.

• § 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 other real estate may be sold.

• § 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 satisfaction of the execution, either upon such real estate or at some public place in the town where it is situated or, if situated in an unorganized town or gore, in an adjoining town.

• § 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 or certified mail, return receipt requested, with instructions to deliver to addressee only. The officer shall also cause an advertisement of the time and place of sale to be published three weeks successively next before the time of sale, in one or more newspapers published in the county where the land lies or, if a newspaper is not published therein, in some newspaper published in an adjoining county. Unless the execution with costs and charges thereon, including expense of advertising, is paid, the officer shall proceed with the sale. (Amended 1971, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 76, eff. March 29, 1972.)

• § 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 execution debtor in section 2787 of this title.

• § 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 real estate, or an undivided fractional part thereof sufficient to satisfy the execution with costs, shall be sold, and if, in the opinion of the officer, it is divisible, shall be sold in separate tracts and parcels.

• § 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 the office where by law a deed of real estate is required to be recorded, it shall give the purchaser all the debtor’s right, title, and interest to the real estate sold.

• § 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 within five business days after the sale. A failure to make such return shall not affect the purchaser’s title to the property. (Amended 2017, No. 11, § 16.)

• § 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 ................. of ......................... in the county of ............... at the suit of ................. of ......................... in the county of .................... was by me, ......................... sheriff of the county of ......................... , on the .......... day of ............... 19 .... , levied on (here describe the premises); and whereas, on the ........ day of .............. 19 .... , all the estate, right, title, interest and property of said .................... in the premises aforesaid were by me, the said .................... sold at public auction for the satisfaction of such execution, to ......................... of .............................. in the county of ............... , who was the highest bidder, for the sum of ............... dollars, which the said ......................... has since fully paid to me;

  Now, by force and virtue of the law in such cases made and provided, I, the said .............................. , in consideration of the sum of money paid unto me as aforesaid, do, by these presents, bargain, sell and assign, and set over unto the said .................... heirs and assigns forever, all the estate, right, title, interest, property and inheritance of the said .............................. in and to such premises and appurtenances at the time of the levy thereon (or of the attachment, as the case may be). To have and to hold such premises and appurtenances to the said .................... , heirs and assigns forever.

  In witness, etc.

• § 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 the sale and set out in the manner provided for the levy of execution upon real estate whereof a homestead forms a part. (Amended 1967, No. 287 (Adj. Sess.), § 6, eff. July 1, 1968; 1995, No. 186 (Adj. Sess.), § 24f, eff. Jan. 1, 1997; 2013, No. 194 (Adj. Sess.), § 4, eff. June 17, 2014.)

• § 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 same in his or her return on the execution.

• § 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 bond within 14 days after such sale with the clerk of the court or magistrate who issued such execution, to the purchaser, in a penal sum that the clerk or magistrate shall order, conditioned in case he or she does not redeem the property to pay the purchaser the fair rents and profits of such premises and commit no waste on the same, which bond shall be approved by the clerk or magistrate. When the debtor fails to file the bond as provided for in this section, the purchaser may have his or her writ of possession from the clerk or magistrate, and may enter and take possession and manage such real estate in a good husbandlike manner. If the defendant in such action shall redeem the same, the purchaser shall account for the fair value of the rents and profits thereof, until the same shall be redeemed. (Amended 2017, No. 11, § 17.)

• § 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 not disqualified and if not in office or if disqualified, to any other justice or to a district judge in the county where the land lies, who could lawfully judge between the parties. On notice to the other party, he or she shall appoint three disinterested freeholders resident in the town in which the land or the greater part thereof lies, to act as appraisers, to appraise such rents and profits. They shall be sworn to the faithful performance of their duties and shall, on notice to the parties, appraise the rents and profits of the premises and also determine if any waste has been committed thereon, and return their appraisal, including damages for waste, if any has been committed, to the clerk or magistrate who appointed them; and, if he or she accepts the same, it shall be final between the parties. When the defendant has given the bond and remained in possession, the amount so found due shall be recoverable in an action founded on the bond. If the purchaser has gone into possession, the damages shall be deducted from the money to redeem the same. (Amended 1965, No. 194, § 10, eff. July 1, 1965, operative Feb. 1, 1967.)

• § 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 sum due for the rents and profits, with a bond in such sum as the clerk or magistrate shall adjudge reasonable, conditioned to pay what shall be found due the purchaser over the sum tendered and the rents and profits aforesaid, and may have immediate possession of the premises on the tender of the money and bond aforesaid. When the debtor gives his or her bond and remains in possession of the premises, the purchaser may have his or her writ of possession for such premises at the expiration of six months.

• § 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, the debtor shall recover his or her costs. In case the tender is not sufficient, the costs shall be in the discretion of the clerk or magistrate who appointed the appraisers. The costs of the appraisal shall be the same as costs before a justice, and the clerk or magistrate may issue execution for the same. In case the debtor remains in possession and gives the bond before mentioned, the costs may be collected on such bond. The fees of the commissioners shall be the same as the appraisers in other cases under the statute.

• § 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 been redeemed.

• § 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 render the rents reserved, may be taken on execution by a creditor of the person entitled to receive the same.

• § 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 profits is required to be recorded, a certified copy of the execution, stating that he or she is directed to levy the same on the rents, issues, and profits of the real estate, and designating such real estate as in attachment. Within ten days thereafter, he or she shall serve a written notice of such levy upon the tenant in possession of the described real estate, by delivering the same to him or her personally or leaving it at his or her last and usual place of abode.

• § 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, issues, and profits he or she yields or pays or has agreed to yield or pay the use thereof, to whom, when, and in what manner the same are payable and the amount, if any, then due.

• § 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 shall be given in the same time and manner and the sale made as sales of real estate on execution, except that the officer shall sell the right to collect and receive such rents, issues, and profits for the least time sufficient to satisfy such execution with costs. If the right to collect and receive the rents, issues, and profits for the full time they are payable does not sell for enough to satisfy the execution with costs, the officer shall return the same satisfied in part only.

• § 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 conveying the right to collect and receive the rents, issues, and profits of the designated real estate for the time sold, which shall operate as a full and complete conveyance and assignment to the purchaser, of the rents, issues, and profits due and to become due for the time for which the same were sold and as specified in such conveyance. The tenant in possession shall attorn to the purchaser, and yield and pay to him or her such rents, issues, and profits. On failure to do so, the purchaser may maintain, in his or her own name, any action against the tenant, either at law or in equity, that the judgment debtor might have maintained to collect the same, eject the tenant, or otherwise.

• § 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 collect and receive such rents, issues, and profits thereupon shall cease, and on request of the debtor and at his or her expense, the purchaser shall execute to him or her an instrument in writing, relinquishing, and surrendering all right to the subsequent rents, issues, and profits. When the time for which the right to collect and receive such rents, issues, and profits was sold, expires, or when the debtor pays the balance due as provided in this section, the purchaser, if in possession of the real estate, shall surrender the same to the person entitled thereto.

• § 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 sell the real estate so in possession of the tenant, or sufficient to satisfy the execution, as the property of the debtor, discharged from any right, title, or interest of such tenant therein, and as real estate may be sold under this chapter. The officer to whom a writ of possession is issued after such sale, by virtue thereof, may remove the tenant from such real estate and put the purchaser in possession.

• § 2808. Fraudulent conveyance of real estate—Application to Superior Court by levying creditors

  When an execution has been levied upon real estate as provided in this chapter and any part of the same has been conveyed away or encumbered or is held in fraud of the levying creditor’s rights, he or she may maintain an action in the Superior Court for the satisfaction of his or her execution out of the real estate so conveyed or held, by a sale thereof, or otherwise, under the order of such court. Any number of creditors, though severally interested, may join in such action. (Amended 1973, No. 193 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. April 9, 1974.)

• § 2809. Proceedings to extend lien

  Within the five months during which real estate is held to satisfy an execution levied upon the same, the creditor shall cause a copy of his or her complaint, attested by the officer serving the same, to be recorded in the same office where the certified copy of the execution has been recorded. Such five months shall thereupon be extended until the end of such action, subject to the orders and decrees of the court therein.

• § 2810. Record of decree

  A copy of the final decree in the cause, certified by the clerk of the court, shall be recorded within 30 days from its rendition in the office where by law a deed of such real estate is required to be recorded.