The answer: very carefully.
And we are not being facetious.
Mechanic's Lien filings by contractors are unforgiving-if you miss the deadline by one day, your lien rights will be lost.
This discussion applies to any form, notice, lien or other legal document to be used by a contractor or supplier.
So how do you compute the time period? Assume hypothetically you last furnished labor and materials on April 10 (these examples are based on calendar year 2004, but the same principles apply to any year) and have 10 days thereafter to file/record your lien.
Here are the rules: 1.
Ignore the first day-the day of last furnishing the labor or materials (April 10).
The Courts give you 10 full days after completion and that would not be the case if you finished at 5:00 P.
M.
on April 10 and it counted as the first full day.
It would end up being some strange fraction of a day that is too hard to calculate.
Day 1 will be April 11.
Day 1 can be either a workday, weekend, or holiday.
In this case, the first day is Sunday, April 11.
2.
Count with calendar days not work days.
3.
Count weekends and federal holidays.
4.
If the LAST day falls on a weekend or holiday, you get the next business day.
For example, if the last day of labor and materials was instead April 15, the 10th day after that would be Sunday, April 25-you get until close of business on April 26.
The answer: If the last day of work was April 10, 2004, you have until April 20, 2004 to file/record.