South Carolina § 63-17-2730 - Notice of a lien, filing, expiration.

§ 63-17-2730. Notice of a lien, filing, expiration.

(A)(1) The division shall file notice of a lien with respect to real property with the register of deeds for any county in the State where the obligor owns property. The social security number, or the alien identification number assigned to a resident alien who does not have a social security number, of the obligor must be noted on the notice of the lien. The filing operates to perfect a lien when recorded, as to any interest in real property owned by the obligor that is located in the county where the lien is recorded. Liens created under this section must be maintained by the register of deeds of each county of the State, in accordance with established local procedures for recordation. If the obligor subsequently acquires an interest in real property, the lien is perfected upon the recording of the instrument by which the interest is obtained in the register of deeds where the notice of the lien was filed within six years prior thereto. A child support lien is perfected as to real property when both the notice thereof and a deed or other instrument in the name of the obligor are on file in the register of deeds for the county where the obligor owns property without respect to whether the lien or the deed or other instrument was recorded first.

(2) The division also shall file notice of a child support lien, with the social security number, or the alien identification number assigned to a resident alien who does not have a social security number, of the obligor on the notice, with respect to personal property with the Department of Natural Resources, a county, or other office or agency responsible for the filing or recording of liens. The filing of a notice of a lien or of a waiver or release of a lien must be received and registered or recorded without payment of a fee. The division may file notice of a lien or waiver or release of a lien or may transmit information to or receive information from any registry of deeds or other office or agency responsible for the filing or recording of liens by any means, including electronic means. Any lien placed against a vehicle with a title issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles is not perfected until notation of the lien is recorded on the vehicle's title by the Department of Motor Vehicles. No fee is required to reissue this title. The perfected lien is not subordinate to a recorded lien except a lien that has been perfected before the date on which the child support lien was perfected. The division, upon request of the obligor, may subordinate the child support lien to a subsequently perfected mortgage. To assist in the collection of a debt by the division, the division may disclose the name of an obligor against whom a lien has arisen and other identifying information including the existence of the lien and the amount of the outstanding obligation.

(B) The lien expires upon termination of a current child support obligation and payment in full of unpaid child support or upon release of the lien by the division. In any event, a lien under this section expires six years from the date on which the lien was first perfected. The lien may be extended for additional periods of six years each by recording, during the fifth year of the lien, a further notice of the lien, as provided in subsection (A), without affecting the priority of the lien. Expiration of the lien does not terminate the underlying order or judgment of child support. The division may issue a full or partial waiver of a lien imposed under this section. The waiver or release is conclusive evidence that the lien upon the property covered by the waiver or release is extinguished.

HISTORY: 2008 Act No. 361, SECTION 2.