Our Lien Pilot is revolutionary, and is a great management tool for your company. But it doesn’t replace the advice of an attorney, and here’s why.
Do You Still Need Legal Advice? Yes.
The deadline system and calculator determines applicable deadlines based on the information you input in to the system. Legal advice is often needed to make decisions about what should be inputted, to ensure that you are using our database accurately.
Here are some examples of how legal advice can help better utilize the Express Lien database.
What Type of Project Is Is?
This may seem like a simple question. Sometimes it is, and sometimes its not. Most states have different lien and notice requirements for each project type. A notice, for example, may be required on a residential project, but not on commercial projects. When this is the case, the state statutes define each project type. You may need legal advice to determine the project type under the statute. While a project may seem to be residential, if it is more than a certain number of units, the project may be considered a commercial one under some state laws.
Resources on this question:
- The Differences Between Public and Private Projects
My Deadline Ends on a Weekend / Holiday, Now What?
Our deadline calculator calculates deadlines strictly based on number of days…and so it’s entirely possible that our system generated deadline may end on a weekend or holiday. How do you file your document if the recorders office is closed? You can’t, and the important question becomes whether the law requires you file before the deadline expiration or on the following non-weekend or holiday day. Each state differs.
When Did I Last Furnish Labor and Materials?
The deadline system generates deadlines based on “trigger dates,” the dates you put into the system that mark the start of a deadline period. Frequently, this is the “last date materials and/or labor is furnished.” The real question is when does this date occur? For this, the answer is different for each state and you may need legal advice. For example, in many states, punchlist or touch-up work does not count towards “labor or materials furnished,” and your last day of work may be before your actual last day of work.
Resources on this question:
- The Importance of Knowing When Your Lien Period Begins
How Do You Get Legal Advice?
Legal advice is expensive. Lawyers are confusing. Lawyers don’t understand that businesses have a bottom line, work on small margins, and don’t have the luxery of over-lawyering every project. At Zlien, we hear you loud and clear.
There’s another company that hears you loud and clear: Avvo.com.
Avvo is a lawyer rating and legal information site, that not only provides you the nation’s best directory of attorneys, but also allows you to ask these attorneys legal questions directly…and for free.
Avvo and Zlien has affiliated with one another through the use of Avvo.com’s powerful API. You can ask legal questions to attorneys across the country right from within our site, and if you need to hire counsel, we can give you the top 10 attorneys in your area.
Why take the risk of making the wrong determination about some of these questions? Just ask an attorney at Avvo.com. It’s free.
