Mississippi § 85-7-415 - Discharge of lien by filing bond.

§ 85-7-415. Discharge of lien by filing bond.

When any person entitled under this article to claim a lien against any real estate located in this state files a lien in the office of the clerk of the chancery court of the county in which the real estate is located, the owner of the real estate or the contractor or subcontractor employed to improve the property may, before or after foreclosure proceedings are instituted, discharge the lien upon the approval of a bond by the clerk of the chancery court. The bond shall be conditioned to pay to the holder of the lien the sum that may be found to be due the holder upon the trial of any payment action that may be filed by the lienholder to recover the amount of the claim within one hundred eighty (180) days from the time the claim of lien is filed or as otherwise required by Section 85-7-423. The bond shall be one hundred ten percent (110%) of the amount claimed under that lien and shall be either a cash bond or a bond with good security approved by the clerk of the chancery court and issued by any surety company authorized to do business in the State of Mississippi. Upon approval by the clerk of the bond, the real estate shall be discharged from the lien. Within seven (7) days of filing the bond required by subsection (1) of this section and any attachments, the party filing the bond shall send a notice of filing the bond and a copy of the bond by registered or certified mail or statutory overnight delivery to the lien claimant at the address stated on the lien or, if no address is shown for the lien claimant, to the person shown as having filed the lien on behalf of the claimant at the indicated address of the person and, if the bond is filed by a contractor or subcontractor, to the owner of the property and the contractor; however, if the lien claimant or the owner or contractor is an entity on file with the Secretary of State’s office, sending the notice of filing the bond and a copy of the bond to the company’s address or the registered agent’s address on file with the Secretary of State shall be deemed sufficient; failure to send the notice of filing the bond and copy of the bond shall not invalidate the bond for purposes of discharge of a claim of lien under this section. With respect to bonds secured by property, the clerk shall not accept any real property bond unless the real property is scheduled in an attached affidavit setting forth a description of the property and indicating the record owner thereof, including any liens and encumbrances and amounts thereof, the market value, and the value of the sureties’ interest therein, which affidavit shall be executed by the owner or owners of the interest; the bond and affidavit shall be recorded in the same manner and at the same cost as other deeds of real property. So long as the bond exists, it shall constitute a lien against the property described in the attached affidavit. The clerk of the chancery court shall have the right to rely upon the amount specified in the claim of lien in determining the sufficiency of any bond to discharge under this section. The failure to specify both the amount claimed due under the lien and the date the claim was due shall result in the lien not constituting notice for any purposes. The clerk of the chancery court shall be held harmless for good faith regarding any discretionary act in connection with approval of any bond provided for in this section.