Also known as: liens · lien
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A legal claim against property that secures payment of a debt or performance of an obligation.
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Lars Lindstrom contracts to buy land from Lumen Capital. At closing the buyer learns of an unreleased lien from a prior creditor. Lars refuses to perform because the lien prevents marketable title and the seller cannot cure it before the deadline.
Levi Lowe holds a fee simple conditional estate. A judgment creditor obtains a lien on the land. The lien attaches to any interest Levi can transfer under the conditional estate rules.
Landon Long supplies seed to Legacy Motors under a credit agreement creating an agricultural lien. The supplier files a financing statement before the lien becomes effective. The lien is perfected at the moment it attaches.
Layla Lane owes child support arrears. The court enters an order directing the state agency to place a lien on her real property and to execute on that lien to satisfy the judgment.
Lena Lawson obtains a money judgment against a partner in Lone Peak Energy. The court issues a charging order that places a lien on the partner's transferable interest and directs the partnership to pay distributions to the judgment creditor.
Lamar Lewis borrows from Lotus Pharmaceuticals and grants a mortgage on his home. Under the lien theory the lender receives only a lien while Lewis retains legal title to the property.
An unreleased lien is a title defect that renders title unmarketable. The buyer may rescind or refuse to close if the seller cannot cure the defect by the closing date.
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A charging order creates a lien on the judgment debtor's transferable interest and requires the partnership to pay distributions to the creditor instead of the debtor.
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An agricultural lien is perfected once it becomes effective and the requirements of section 9-310 are satisfied. It may be perfected at the moment it becomes effective if filing occurs beforehand.
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…compensation. See also Armstrong v. United States , 364 U. S. 40 (1960) (Government’s complete destruction of a materialman’s lien in certain property held a “taking”); Hudson Water Co. v. McCarter , 209 U. S. 349, 355 (1908) (if height restriction makes property wholly useless “the rights of property . . . prevail…