1.    In the case of a vehicle, the child support agency may file a notice of lien with the director of the department of transportation. The notice must be in a form prescribed by the director and contain a description of the vehicle, the name and last-known address of the obligor, and any other information required by the director. The notice of lien must state that the child support obligation is past due and that a copy of the notice of lien has been served on the obligor by first-class mail at the obligor’s last-known address.

Terms Used In North Dakota Code 35-34-03

  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
  • written: include "typewriting" and "typewritten" and "printing" and "printed" except in the case of signatures and when the words are used by way of contrast to typewriting and printing. See North Dakota Code 1-01-37

2.    Upon filing of the notice of lien in accordance with this section, the director shall demand in writing the surrender of the certificate of title from the obligor or a superior lienholder for the purpose of recording the lien on the certificate of title. Upon receipt of the certificate of title, the director shall record the fact of the lien and the identity of the lienholder on the certificate of title and deliver the certificate of title to the vehicle’s    owner or, if a superior lienholder had possession of the certificate of title, to that superior lienholder. If the obligor or superior lienholder fails to surrender the certificate of title within fifteen days after the written demand by the director, the director shall notify the child support agency seeking the lien.

3.    Upon receipt of notice from the director that the obligor or superior lienholder has not responded to the demand for surrender of a title certificate, the child support agency may obtain an order from a court of competent jurisdiction requiring the certificate of title to be delivered to the court so that a lien may be properly recorded.

4.    No fee may be charged by the director for services provided under this section.

5.    The director may determine a certificate of title to have been fraudulently procured if endorsed by a previous owner who, at the time the endorsement was made, was an obligor who owed past-due child support.