Judgment Liens

My husband and I are landlords. Our son has taken over showing the apartments. He recently showed an apartment to a client, received money from them, receipted the money for rent/security upon application approval and then brought the application home for follow-up and approval. Upon seeing the name, we realized it was someone we had received a judgment for from a previous rental experience that our son was not aware of. At the time of the previous judgment they gave us a paper signed by them stating they would pay us when they had money. We called the people immediately, told them we would not be renting to them because of previous amount due but would be keeping their money as payment on account. They are now filing criminal charges against us claiming fraud and demanding return of the money. As we are owed this money and much more, we have refused to return it. Is there any precedent for our keeping the money as we feel we were honest with them and did not intend fraud. They also continued to seek apartments so there was no hardship.

My cousin's wife let my husband and me use her credit and name to purchase the home we live in now. She has never put any money toward the house, purchased insurance, or paid taxes. She did; however, ask to borrow our equity to purchase a semi-truck for their work. Well, now she is trying to take the house from us. I would like to put a lien on our house so she cannot sell it. I would also like to put a lien on her truck since she purchased it with our equity. Is this possible?

We are a used car dealer in California that financed one of our own customers on a car. He is now in Florida and has a $5000 unpaid repair bill at a Lexus dealership. Are we obligated to pay the whole bill when we go to reposess the car, or is their a law that dictates they can only charge the lien holder so much or must give us notification prior to such a large repair being performed?

I hold an individual mortgage on my home and am in the process of refinancing. When the lender checked title, a judicial lien was found against my husband. Based on information I found concerning the judicial lien statutes in Michigan, I do not believe that this lien is proper. MCL 600.101 to 600.9947, Chapter 28, Section 2807 says that a judgment lien does not attach to entireties property unless the underlying judgment is against both husband and wife. This is not the case. This lien must be removed so I can complete the refinance. What is my best avenue to get this lien removed from title quickly?

I am having a room built onto my house. How can do so such that sub-contractors and materials suppliers cannot place liens on my house if the general contractor does not pay them?