Under Georgia law, a contractor must file a lien 3 months after
completing work, and then has 12 months to file a suit to collect the
money owed.  If no suit is filed, is there a way to have the lien
removed as null and void since the contractor never acted on it and
how long does that take plus est. cost for legal fees?

Hi Rprilop ~

Please note the disclaimer below:

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I am not an attorney licensed to practice law in Georgia, and this is
not legal advice. Rather, the answer to your question is from the
Official Code of Georgia Annotated, which is published online by the
Georgia legislature.


Section 44-14-367 provides that the owner of real estate may apply to
have a lien marked "void of record" if no action has been filed within
14 months from the time the claim became due.

    "(a) In the event no notice is filed with the clerk of the
         superior court as is required by paragraph (3) of
         subsection (a) of Code Section 44-14-361.1 within 14
         months from the time the claim became due, the owner
         of the real estate improved may file with the clerk
         of the superior court in the county in which the
         property is located a request to have the lien marked
         void of record."
   - http://www.legis.state.ga.us/cgi-bin/gl_codes_detail.pl?code=44-14-367


To accomplish that, you must have an attorney licensed to practice law
in the State of Georgia prepare an affidavit to the effect he has
checked the records of the Court in the county in which the property
is held and that no actions or proceedings against the property have
been filed. The rest of the statute describes the procedure to have
the lien declared "void of record".
   - http://www.legis.state.ga.us/cgi-bin/gl_codes_detail.pl?code=44-14-367



As to an estimate of what this will cost in attorney's fees - the best
response I could get from two calls to law firms in Georgia and an
acquaintance who is an attorney in Georgia (although he does not
practice in construction or lien law) is that attorney fees can range
from $300 up.

If there are no complications, meaning a search shows there are no
proceedings and the lien claimant files no objection and does not file
for any further relief, it's a matter of watching the dates and
getting the Clerk to mark "This lien is void of record pursuant to
Code Section 44-14-367 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated." on
the face of the lien and then recording it to clear any obstructions
to clear title the lien may have caused.

Obviously, if the lien claimant files an objection or files for
relief, there is great deal more work to do, and fees would be
determined accordingly.


Since you didn't state where in Georgia you were, I used
Martindale-Hubbell's online lawyer locator to find attorneys in
Georgia who specialize in construction/lien law. You can find the
general search results here:
   - http://www.martindale.com/xp/Martindale/Lawyer_Locator/Search_Lawyer_Locator/search_result.xml?PG=0&STYPE=P&search=2&PAREA=735&SET=lien+law&CN=&CTY=&STS=11&CRY=1&LNG=&LSCH=&MTY=&MTR=&FSZ=&BR=

And you can further refine the search to your particular location.

Your best bet on a general idea of what the costs are would be to call
a few firms in your area, and attorneys will not always discuss their
fees over the phone, preferring to meet with you in person to discuss
the procedure and fees at that time. Usually, there is no charge for
that first meeting.


Further Resources
==================

For your information, I found a firm in Tucker, Georgia, which
publishes information on its website about mechanics liens on real
property. The firm is Wood & Meredith, LLC, and you can find the
information here:
   - http://www.woodandmeredith.com/realestate/mechanics_lien.html



Search strategies -
  - Georgia statutes
  - Official Code of Georgia Annotated + mechanics liens


Good luck with clearing the lien!

Serenata
Google Answers Researcher

Interesting that I did stumble across some of the same stuff (not
knowing how fast your researchers were) but he had it down pat, and
came up with the same firm that I found on the web.  His further
clairification/sumation was a help in review of the complex
information.
Thanks, wish I had looked into this a long time ago.