§ 35-34-05 — Account lien

1. In the case of an account maintained in a financial institution, the child support agency
may establish a lien on the account by serving a notice of lien upon the financial
institution in the manner provided for service of a summons in a civil action or in any
other manner agreed to by the financial institution. The notice must be in a form
prescribed by the child support agency and contain the name, social security number,
or other taxpayer identification number and last-known address of the obligor, the
amount of past-due support for which a lien is claimed, and any other information
required by the child support agency. The notice of lien must state that the child
support obligation is past due and that a copy of the notice of lien has been served on
the obligor by first-class mail at the obligor's last-known address.
2. Upon service of the notice of lien on a financial institution in accordance with this
section, the lien attaches to accounts of the obligor maintained in the financial
institution and freezes all subsequent withdrawals from the account except for funds in
excess of the amount of past-due support for which a lien is claimed under this section
and as provided in subsection 3.
3. Notwithstanding a freeze on an account under subsection 2, the financial institution
may satisfy any right of setoff which exists in connection with an account, payment
orders that were made by the obligor before the financial institution was served with
notice of lien, or other obligations of the obligor based upon written agreements or
instruments made or issued by the obligor before the financial institution was served
with notice of lien.

4. A lien under this section is perfected when the financial institution is served with notice
of the lien.