How long do I have to fight a commercial lien?

The commercial lien process is fairly straight forward. Someone goes to court to get this attached to the net proceeds of someone else's commercial property, typically in order to compel the person or entity you want to place the lien on to do something (s)he/it is supposed to do.

Commercial liens have been used in many situations, from getting a public official to perform duties that (s)he is legally required to perform to getting a service provider to finish a job that was abandoned for no valid reason. If successful, this tactic can be very effective since private citizens can not sue public officials for violating the law or not prosecuting someone. Commercial liens go straight for the recipient's personal property and may have far reaching effects on his/her/its day to day life such as notation in a credit report.

If a commercial lien has been filed against you, you can contest it for a certain time period (likely around 20-30 days) after you have received service of process notifying you of the lien. However, you will most likely not get the lien removed without the permission and approval of the party who filed the lien. Commercial liens can also be valid for up to 100 years so if one is filed against a person, it may survive that person's death.

You will have a hard fight on your hands and are more likely to win if you do what the lien holder wanted in the first place.