Legal Question in Business Law in Washington

Re: Right to lien based on Prom Note?

As a California attorney I can't say what's possible in Washington state.

In California, and probably in many other states since the laws tend to be pretty uniform as to basic principles, liens are created either by express prior agreement of the debtor and creditor, or by judicial action, usually post-judgment but pre-judgment liens can be obtained in limited circumstances.

Mechanics' liens are a special category. In California, the right to such a lien is constitutional, and the procedures, etc. are spelled out in detail in statutes that are probably peculiar to California. I assume that the lien in question here would not be a mechanics' lien.

Frequently, when a lien is in the form of a security interest in particular property, the creditor may file a Form UCC-1 along with a copy of the security agreement creating the interest. I assume neither the note itself nor any related writing could be deemed a "security agreement" in that it appears to grant the creditor rights to particular property as collateral.

If the foregoing all seems to be in your favor, my guess is that your creditor will have to apply to a court in order to establish his right to a lien, that this will be difficult to get without notice to you and a hearing, and that he cannot just "file" something somewhere and create a lien.