TRADITION SOFTWARE’s TRADITION LIEN SERVICE division recently went through a very difficult lien recording on commercial property in rural Dunn County, NORTH DAKOTA. According to Wikipedia, Dunn County had only 3,536 residents in 2010.

A dispute between the General Contractor and Subcontractor filtered down to a Sub-Sub, who was not being paid its final invoice for grading and paving work done.

The customer service by phone with Lisa A. Guenther, Clerk of the Court/Recorder was outstanding. At the current time Dunn County is not accepting electronic recordings for liens. For rural property, you are not going to have a “123 Main Street, Anywhere, ND” address, or sometimes even an APN that can be used for the legal description. For this lien, Peggy Hendricks, Deputy Recorder helped me come up with the legal description at deadline.

Dunn County is located in the western part of the state. Federal Express could not do next day delivery to the Dunn County Courthouse even if you paid for it.

Recorded liens must include the Subdivision, Lot and Block numbers. Fees are $10.00 first page, $3.00 each additional page of 8-1/2″ x 11″ paper. Out of state business checks are accepted.

Actual recording is same day received. Dunn County does have a large top blank margin requirement – 3 1/2 x 4 at the top. They also require one inch margins on the left and right sides along with the bottom. And as we discovered, they want at least 10 point Arial type font. TRADITION LIEN SERVICE typically uses 10 point Arial Narrow, so we resubmitted the lien a 2nd time with the larger Arial font. For the original document to be mailed back, request it in writing with self-addressed stamped envelope.