(a)

Attorney's Note

Under the Tennessee Code, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
class E felony1 to 6 yearsup to $3,000
For details, see Tenn. Code § 40-35-111
criminal case

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 39-17-117

  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • 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.
  • National Credit Union Administration: The federal regulatory agency that charters and supervises federal credit unions. (NCUA also administers the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, which insures the deposits of federal credit unions.) Source: OCC
  • Person: includes the singular and the plural and means and includes any individual, firm, partnership, copartnership, association, corporation, governmental subdivision or agency, or other organization or other legal entity, or any agent or servant thereof. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Property: means anything of value, including, but not limited to, money, real estate, tangible or intangible personal property, including anything severed from land, library material, contract rights, choses-in-action, interests in or claims to wealth, credit, admission or transportation tickets, captured or domestic animals, food and drink, electric or other power. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(1) It is an offense for any person to knowingly prepare, sign, or file any lien or other document with the intent to encumber any real or personal property when such person has no reasonable basis or any legal cause to place such lien or encumbrance on such real or personal property.
(2) As used in this subsection (a), “person” includes any individual or entity.
(b) Upon conviction for an offense pursuant to this section, any court having or exercising circuit court jurisdiction may order the removal from any record the lien or document evidencing an encumbrance, and order that the document be void and of no legal effect, and, if so ordered, the court shall cause the removal of any cloud on a title that may have arisen because of the document.
(c) This section shall not apply to:

(1) A licensed attorney who prepares a document in the course of representation of a client;
(2) A financial institution regulated by the Tennessee department of financial institutions, the federal reserve board, the office of the comptroller of the currency, the farm credit administration, or the national credit union administration, qualified commercial financing entity, as defined in § 67-4-2004, or an employee or agent of any of those entities, who prepares, signs or files a lien or other document in the ordinary course of business;
(3) A title insurance company or agent who prepares, signs, or files a lien or other document in the ordinary course of business; or
(4) A real estate licensee operating in compliance with the Tennessee Real Estate Broker License Act of 1973, compiled in title 62, chapter 13.
(d) A violation of subsection (a) is a Class E felony.
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