A personal property lien is used to assert your claim in property (other than real estate) owned by the debtor.
In theory, if the property is transferred to someone else (while a lien is in effect), the judgment lien continues even though the property is sold, exchanged, or disposed of. During the time period that the lien is effective, you can have the sheriff take the personal property and sell it at public auction to pay the debt. Personal property liens can be created in two ways. The lien can be created by filing a Notice of Judgment Lien (JL-1) This form can be found on the Secretary of State website. The second way is by serving the debtor with a notice of a debtor’s examination.