We had a dispute with a contractor years ago about work done to our home. His last date of work on our home was Dec 2018. This year we listed our home for sale and miraculously, the contractor somehow feels he has a right to collect on work he never finished. He falsified and filed a Mechanics Lien this year, overshooting the deadline by several years. We deposited money with the courts to sell our home. Now that the house is sold, we wanted to take him to court to prove the lien willfully exaggerated and have it declared void/get it vacated. His attorney/debt collector wants to settle for less than what they claim we owe, however, they want us to pay money directly to them. I don't want to end up worse off and since the court system has our money and are holding those funds, how do I get them back? How do we ensure no shenanigans?
You have clearly done your research about the time within which to file a lien, as well as the effect of a willfully exaggerated lien. You are also right to be cautious about the mechanics of any resolution/settlement/removal of the lien. It seems like this contractor believes that the leverage of having your money tied up is sufficient to extract a concession--regardless of the validity of the untimely lien. At the risk of sounding self-serving, I would recommend you retain experienced construction counsel to sheperd you through the process of removing the lien and having the money released from the court. Having counsel on your side will also communicate that you are ready, willing, and able to fight for your rights, and will not roll over simply because he has your money tied up with the court. You can reach out to me at gspaun@wbgllp.com to chat further.
You need to file in court to have the lien discharged for failure to foreclose and as untimely. you will need the help of a lawyer. you will have had some money taken by teh sheriff as poundage so, you need to cosider that. The lawyer needs to understand taht all these costs are the liability of his client. if you settle, you will need help with the releasses to ensure the money is returned to you quickly.