Basic Uniform Commercial Code

Lien Creditor


  1. "Lien creditor" means:
    1. a creditor that has acquired a lien on the property involved by attachment, levy, or the like;
    2. an assignee for benefit of creditors from the time of assignment;
    3. a trustee in bankruptcy from the date of the filing of the petition; or
    4. a receiver in equity from the time of appointment.
Copyright, The American Law Institute

People with statutory liens are not lien creditors. They have to be judgment liens.

Just getting a judgment does not make you a lien creditor. Even getting a write of execution does not in most states. You usually have to have the sheriff go out and take the property.

Tax liens do not make the IRS a lien creditor.

Lien creditors take free of security interest if they become a lien creditor when the lien is not perfected. UCC § 9-317(a)(2)(A).

People become lien creditors at the time of the levy. That is also the the priority date.