Missouri Mechanics Lien Deadlines: The Just and True Account, the 10-Day Notice, and the Six-Month Windows

Missouri's mechanics lien law has two features that trip up contractors who assume one state's lien process is much like another's. The first is the document itself: Missouri does not ask for a generic lien claim, it asks for a "just and true account" of the demand — and courts treat that statutory phrase as a real, enforceable standard. An account that overstates the claim, lumps lienable and non-lienable items together, or is otherwise not "just and true" can defeat the entire lien. The second is timing: most subcontractors must give the owner a notice ten days before filing.

The framework lives in the Missouri Revised Statutes, Chapter 429 (Statutory Liens Against Real Estate), with the filing requirement in § 429.080, the notice provisions in the surrounding sections, and the enforcement deadline in § 429.170. Three numbers run the timeline: the 10-day notice subcontractors must give the owner before filing, the six-month window to file the lien after the indebtedness accrued, and a separate six-month window — running from the filing — to bring suit on the lien. Verify the current text of Chapter 429 before relying on any specific date.

Who Can Claim a Lien

Chapter 429 extends lien rights to those who furnish work or materials for the construction or improvement of buildings or other improvements on land. The procedure each must follow turns on contractual position:

The original contractor versus subcontractor line is the one that controls the 10-day notice. An original contractor in privity with the owner generally need not give it; a subcontractor must, and giving it late or not at all can bar the lien.

The 10-Day Notice to the Owner

For a subcontractor, the pre-filing step is the statutory notice to the owner. Every person other than the original contractor who wishes to claim a lien must give the owner — or the owner's agent — ten days' notice, before filing the lien, that the claimant holds a claim against the building or improvement, setting forth the amount and from whom it is due.

The notice tells the owner that an unpaid party exists below the contract level and lets the owner withhold from, or settle with, the original contractor. The statute also specifies how the notice may be served — by an officer authorized to serve civil process, or by a person competent to be a witness to the service — and the claimant should preserve clear proof that service was made and that the ten days elapsed before filing. Filing the lien before the 10-day period has run is a procedural defect.

Missouri also has additional notice rules tied to residential work and to consumer protection, separate from the 10-day pre-filing notice. Those are addressed below, but the practical point is that Missouri layers more than one notice obligation, and a claimant should map every notice that applies to the specific project before filing.

The Six-Month Filing Window and the Just and True Account

The core payload is the lien filing, and Missouri defines both when it must happen and what it must contain:

The six-month window is the easy part to calendar. The harder requirement is the "just and true account" standard, and it is where Missouri liens are most often lost on the merits. The account must fairly and accurately state what is owed for lienable work and materials, with credits applied. A claimant who inflates the amount, includes items that are not lienable, or files an account so vague or so commingled that the owner cannot tell what is being claimed risks having a court hold the account is not "just and true" — and that finding can void the lien entirely, not merely reduce it.

Because "indebtedness accrued" generally points to last furnishing, trivial follow-up work — a minor warranty callback, a small punch-list return — usually does not reset the six-month clock. A claimant counting on a late return visit to extend the window can find it has already closed. Document the genuine last day of substantive work and count six months from it.

Where to File

The lien — the just and true account — is filed with the clerk of the circuit court of the county in which the property is located. Missouri's choice of the circuit court clerk, rather than a recorder of deeds, is a procedural detail worth confirming: a contractor accustomed to recording a lien claim with a county recorder in other states can deliver the document to the wrong office in Missouri.

The filed account must carry the statutorily required content described above — the verified demand with credits applied, a true property description, and the owner and contractor names so far as known. A claimant should treat preparation of the account as the substantive heart of the filing, not a clerical step, given how directly the "just and true" standard bears on whether the lien survives.

Lien Priority

Missouri mechanics liens generally take priority from the commencement of the work of improvement. All mechanics liens on a project relate to that common starting point rather than ranking by individual filing date, so a subcontractor who joins the job later shares the same priority anchor as the contractor who began the improvement.

The commencement rule is why Missouri construction lenders typically record a deed of trust before any visible work begins. A deed of trust recorded after the improvement has commenced can be subordinate to the mechanics liens on the project — including liens of claimants who had not yet started when the deed of trust recorded. Priority disputes often become factual questions about when the work of improvement actually commenced. Verify the current priority rules before relying on them.

Residential Work and the Consumer Notice

Missouri amended its lien law to add consumer protections on residential, owner-occupied projects, and the rules add notice obligations beyond the 10-day pre-filing notice. On qualifying residential work, the statute contemplates a consumer-protection notice to the owner — informing the owner of the potential for liens by parties the owner did not directly hire — as part of doing the work lien-protected.

The practical effect is that a contractor or subcontractor on an owner-occupied residence cannot assume the commercial-project notice path is sufficient. Residential work can carry its own disclosure requirements, and a missed residential notice can be as fatal to the lien as a missed 10-day notice. Confirm the project's residential status early and identify every notice the statute attaches to it.

Enforcing the Lien

Filing the just and true account perfects the lien; it does not collect the money. To enforce, the claimant must file suit — and Missouri attaches a second six-month clock to that step. Under § 429.170, an action to enforce the lien must be commenced within six months after the lien is filed, and the lien does not continue to exist beyond six months after filing unless suit is instituted within that time.

Read the two six-month periods carefully, because they are different clocks. The first six months runs from when the indebtedness accrued and governs filing the lien. The second six months runs from when the lien is filed and governs bringing suit. A claimant who files the lien early in the first window starts the second clock immediately — and a claimant who files the lien and then waits, hoping for payment, can let the enforcement window close on a perfectly valid lien. The suit is an equitable action to enforce the lien against the property, leading, if the claimant prevails, to a judgment and a sale with proceeds distributed by priority. In practice many Missouri lien claims resolve through payment to clear title. Verify the current § 429.170 period before calendaring it.

Lien Waivers

Lien waivers are part of the Missouri payment process, exchanged as work and payment progress. Partial waivers given against progress payments, and final waivers against final payment, are common and generally effective for the amounts they cover. They give the owner and the lender comfort that paid-for work will not later generate a lien.

The recurring exposure applies in Missouri as elsewhere: an unconditional waiver releases lien rights on its face, so signing one before the corresponding payment has cleared can discharge the lien with no money in hand. A claimant should exchange unconditional waivers only against cleared funds, and should read carefully any broad waiver language in a subcontract that purports to release lien rights more sweepingly than the payment actually received. Where a waiver's scope or a pre-work waiver's enforceability is unclear, confirm the position under current law before signing.

Practical Timing Strategy

For a Missouri subcontractor or supplier, the workable sequence runs around the notice and the two six-month clocks:

The key insight is that Missouri tests both the timeline and the document. Hitting the six-month filing window with a sloppy account does not save the lien if a court finds the account is not just and true; and a perfect account does not save the lien if the enforcement suit is not filed within six months of the filing. Both the content and the calendar have to be right.

Bottom Line

Missouri mechanics lien rights under Missouri Revised Statutes Chapter 429 turn on a demanding document and two six-month clocks. A subcontractor must give the owner a 10-day notice before filing; any claimant must file a "just and true account" — an accurate, credited, lienable-only statement of the demand — with the clerk of the circuit court within six months after the indebtedness accrued under § 429.080; and the enforcement suit must be commenced within six months after the lien is filed under § 429.170. Priority runs from the commencement of the improvement, and residential owner-occupied work carries additional consumer-notice obligations. Because the "just and true account" standard can void a lien on the merits and the two six-month periods run from different events, verify the current Chapter 429 requirements against the project's facts rather than applying another state's framework. For significant claims, the precision Missouri demands makes consulting experienced Missouri construction counsel a worthwhile investment.