Illinois General Assembly - Illinois Compiled Statutes

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820 ILCS 405/2401

(820 ILCS 405/2401) (from Ch. 48, par. 721)

Sec. 2401. Recording and release of lien.

A. The lien created by Section 2400 shall be invalid only as to any
innocent purchaser for value of stock in trade of any employer in the usual
course of such employer's business, and shall be invalid as to any innocent
purchaser for value of any of the other assets to which such lien has
attached, unless, with respect to liens created prior to January 1, 2020, notice thereof has been filed by the Director in the
office of the recorder of the county within which the property
subject to the lien is situated or, with respect to liens created on or after January 1, 2020, notice has been filed in the Lien Registry as provided by Section 2401.1. The Director may, in his discretion, for
good cause shown, issue a certificate of withdrawal of notice of lien filed
against any employer, which certificate shall be recorded in the same
manner as herein provided for the recording of notice of liens. Such
withdrawal of notice of lien shall invalidate such lien as against any
person acquiring any of such employer's property or any interest therein,
subsequent to the recordation of the withdrawal of notice of lien, but
shall not otherwise affect the validity of such lien, nor shall it prevent
the Director from re-recording notice of such lien. In the event notice of
such lien is re-recorded, such notice shall be effective as against third
persons only as of the date of such re-recordation. Recording a lien in the Lien Registry which had previously been recorded by the Director with a county recorder of deeds shall not constitute a re-recordation of that lien and does not change the original filing date of such lien.

B. The recorder of each county shall procure at the expense of
the county a file labeled "Unemployment Compensation Contribution Lien
Notice" and an index book labeled "Unemployment Compensation Contribution
Lien Index." When a notice of any such lien is presented to him for filing,
he shall file it in numerical order in the file and shall enter it
alphabetically in the index. The entry shall show the name and last known
business address of the employer named in the notice, the serial number of
the notice, the date and hour of filing, and the amount of contribution,
interest and penalty thereon due and unpaid. When a certificate of complete
or partial release of such lien issued by the Director is presented for
filing in the office of the recorder where a notice of lien was
filed, the recorder shall permanently attach the certificate of release to
the notice of lien and shall enter the certificate of release and the date
in the Unemployment Compensation Contribution Lien Index on the line where
the notice of lien is entered.

C. The Director shall have the power to issue a certificate of partial
release of any part of the property subject to the lien if he shall find
that the fair market value of that part of such property remaining subject
to the lien is at least equal to the amount of all prior liens upon such
property plus double the amount of the liability for contributions,
interest and penalties thereon remaining unsatisfied.

D. Where the amount of or the liability for the payment of any
contribution, interest or penalty is contested by any employing unit
against whose property a lien has attached, and the determination of the
Director with reference to such contribution has not become final, the
Director may issue a certificate of release of lien upon the furnishing of
bond by such employing unit in 125% the amount of the sum of such
contribution, interest and penalty, for which lien is claimed, with good
and sufficient surety to be approved by the Director conditioned upon the
prompt payment of such contribution, together with interest and penalty
thereon, by such employing unit to the Director immediately upon the
decision of the Director in respect to the liability for such contribution,
interest and penalty becoming final.

E. When a lien filed by the Director before January 1, 2020 has been satisfied, the
Department shall issue a release to the person, or his or her agent, against whom
the lien was obtained and such release shall contain in legible letters a
statement as follows:

    FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE OWNER, THIS RELEASE SHALL
    BE FILED WITH THE RECORDER OR THE REGISTRAR
    OF TITLES, IN WHOSE OFFICE, THE LIEN WAS FILED.

E-1. When a lien filed by the Director in the Lien Registry has been satisfied, the Department shall permanently attach a certificate of complete or partial release, as the case may be, in the Lien Registry and provide notice of the release to the person, or his or her agent, against whom the lien was obtained.

F.  The Director may, by rule, require, as a condition of withdrawing, releasing, or partially releasing a lien recorded pursuant to this Section, that the employer reimburse the Department for any recording fees paid with respect to the lien.

(Source: P.A. 101-423, eff. 1-1-20.)