How to Fill Out and File a Michigan Claim of Lien Form

To file a Michigan Claim of Lien form, complete the statutory form with your name, first and last dates of work, the property’s legal description, the owner’s name, and the amount owed; sign it before a notary; record it with the county Register of Deeds within 90 days of your last day of work or material delivery; and serve a copy on the designee named in the Notice of Commencement within 15 days after recording. The form is short. What trips most claimants up is everything that has to happen before and after it.

Prerequisites That Must Be Done First

A Claim of Lien sits at the end of a chain. If earlier links are missing, the lien is unenforceable no matter how cleanly you fill out the paperwork.

Find the Notice of Commencement

Before work begins, the owner or lessee is supposed to record a Notice of Commencement with the Register of Deeds in each county where the property sits. That document identifies the property’s legal description, the owner, the general contractor, and a designee to receive lien-related notices.¹ You’ll pull the legal description, the owner’s name, and the designee’s address straight from it when you complete your form.

If no Notice of Commencement was ever recorded, your deadline to serve a Notice of Furnishing is extended until 20 days after one is eventually recorded.¹ The 90-day deadline for recording the Claim of Lien itself is not extended, though. It runs from your last day of work regardless.

Serve a Notice of Furnishing (Subcontractors and Suppliers)

If you did not contract directly with the property owner, you must serve a Notice of Furnishing on the designee (and the general contractor, if there is one) within 20 days of first providing labor or materials. Delivery can be personal or by certified mail; if you use certified mail, service is complete on the mailing date, whether or not the recipient signs.²

Contractors with a direct contract with the owner are exempt from this requirement. For everyone else, a missing Notice of Furnishing can strip lien rights for work performed before the notice was eventually served, particularly if the owner already paid the general contractor based on sworn statements or waivers that did not list you.² Keep your proof of service. You will attach it to the Claim of Lien when you record.

Provide a Sworn Statement to the Owner

Before recording, a contractor or subcontractor must provide the owner with a sworn statement listing every subcontractor and supplier on the project, along with each party’s contract amount, payments received, and balance owed, plus any laborers with unpaid wages or fringe benefits. Skip this step and you risk losing the right to the lien entirely. Falsifying it carries criminal exposure.³

The 90-Day Recording Deadline

You have 90 days from the date you last provided labor or materials to record the Claim of Lien with the county Register of Deeds.⁴ “Last day” means the last day you actually performed physical work or delivered materials that went into the improvement. Sending invoices, doing punch-list inspections, or handling warranty callbacks generally do not reset the clock.

Day 91 is a hard cutoff. No extensions, no late-filing procedure, no judicial discretion. Track the last day of work on every project as carefully as your receivables.

Residential Projects Require a Written Contract

Before you fill out anything, confirm whether the project is residential. A residential structure means a condo unit or a building with no more than two residential units where the owner lives or will live. A contractor has no right to a construction lien on a residential structure unless the work was done under a written contract with the owner, and that contract must state that residential builders and certain trade contractors are required to be licensed. If the contractor needs a license, the contract must include the license number.⁵

Oral or handshake agreements will not preserve residential lien rights. Filing anyway wastes time and can expose you to a slander of title claim from the homeowner.

What Goes on the Claim of Lien Form

The Construction Lien Act prescribes a statutory form. Blank templates are available through county Register of Deeds websites and legal document providers, but whatever version you use has to “substantially” follow the statutory format.⁴ You’ll need to complete:

Claimant’s name and address. Your full legal name or business entity name and current business address.
First and last dates of work. The calendar date you first provided labor or materials and the date you last provided them. These control whether the 90-day deadline was met.
Property description. The legal description from the Notice of Commencement, meaning lot numbers, subdivision name, or metes and bounds. A street address alone is not sufficient. Adding the tax parcel number is helpful, but the legal description is what the Register of Deeds requires.
Owner or lessee. The name of the owner or lessee as shown on the Notice of Commencement.
Lien amount. The contract price including approved change orders, minus payments already received.

Be careful with the lien amount. It should reflect only what you are actually owed under the contract. Do not pad it with interest, late fees, or speculative charges unless your contract explicitly provides for them and Michigan law permits it. An inflated amount can invalidate the entire lien, not just the excess.

Subcontractors and suppliers must attach their proof of service of the Notice of Furnishing to the Claim of Lien when they record. The Register of Deeds may reject the filing without it.⁴

Notarize Before You File

The claimant, or the claimant’s agent or attorney, must sign the form in front of a notary public, who then applies a seal and signature. An unnotarized Claim of Lien will be rejected and cannot be recorded.⁶ Banks, shipping stores, and law offices generally offer notary services. Given the 90-day pressure, don’t leave notarization for the last day.

Record With the County Register of Deeds

Take or mail the notarized form to the Register of Deeds in the county where the property sits. If the property spans multiple counties, record in each one. The recording fee is $30 regardless of page count, which covers the base fee plus Michigan’s remonumentation and automation surcharges.⁷ Charter counties can set their own fee schedules by ordinance, so confirm the exact amount with your county office before mailing a check.

If you mail the filing, include the fee (usually a check to the county Register of Deeds) and a self-addressed stamped envelope so the office can return a stamped, recorded copy. Keep that copy. It is your proof the lien is on the public record.

Serve the Recorded Lien Within 15 Days

Recording is not the last step. Within 15 days of the recording date, serve a copy of the recorded Claim of Lien, along with any proof of service recorded with it, on the designee named in the Notice of Commencement. If no designee was named or the designee has died, serve the owner or lessee. Service can be personal or by certified mail with return receipt requested, sent to the address on the Notice of Commencement.⁶

With certified mail, service is complete on the mailing date. Keep the certified mail receipt and the return receipt card. Proof of service must accompany any complaint, cross-claim, or counterclaim to enforce the lien, so losing this paperwork can derail a lawsuit months later.⁶

Keep the Lien Alive: The One-Year Window

A recorded Claim of Lien clouds the property title, which usually prevents the owner from selling or refinancing without addressing the debt. But it does not last forever. You must file a lawsuit to enforce the lien within one year of the recording date.⁸ If a year passes without a suit, the lien expires and the title clears automatically.

When you file the foreclosure action, you must simultaneously record a notice of lis pendens with the Register of Deeds in the county where the property is located.⁸ Filing the lawsuit without recording the lis pendens at the same time is a procedural misstep that can complicate or defeat enforcement.

Don’t Inflate the Amount

Filing a Claim of Lien with a knowingly inflated amount, or without a legitimate basis, can expose the claimant to a slander of title action. The owner must show the lien was false, filed with malice, and caused actual financial harm; if they do, damages can include the owner’s attorney fees, losses from the clouded title such as a failed sale or higher borrowing costs, and potentially exemplary damages on top.

Build the lien amount from verifiable documentation: signed contracts, change orders, invoices, and a clean payment ledger. If any part of the balance is genuinely in dispute, err low. A lien for slightly less than the full disputed amount is far more defensible than one that overstates the debt.

1
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 570.1108 – Notice of Commencement
2
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 570.1109 – Notice of Furnishing
3
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 570.1110 – Sworn Statement by Contractor or Subcontractor
4
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 570.1111 – Claim of Lien
5
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws Act 497 of 1980 – Construction Lien Act
6
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 570.1111 – Claim of Lien
7
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 600.2567 – Register of Deeds Fees
8
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 570.1117 – Action for Enforcement of Construction Lien