The Texas Trust Fund Statute makes general contractors into trustees who have a fiduciary duty to manage payments for the benefit of the subcontractors, who are the beneficiaries of the trust funds held by the general contractor. The most important thing to know about the Texas Trust Fund Statute is that it applies to anyone …
Texas Trust Fund Statute and Sham General Contractors Read More »
Texas law protects not only original or general contractors; who automatically obtain a lien upon the owner’s property just by providing materials or performing labor (Tex. Const. art. XVI, § 37); but also subcontractors who the owner may never meet and who may have no contracts or business dealings whatsoever with the owner. Property owners …
The easiest way is to simply wait out the limitations period. Tex. Prop. Code § 53.158. If a suit is not filed by the contractor to foreclose the lien within one (1) year on a residential project or two (2) years on a commercial project, then the lien is automatically discharged of record. Id.; Tex. …
Usually, the lawyer gets a phone call when a problem with a mechanic’s lien has already arisen. However, there are preventative measures that property owners can take to avoid getting into mechanic’s lien situations in the first place. One method is to obtain advance or periodic mechanic’s lien waivers from your contractors. Another is to …
The State of Texas is a good place to be a contractor and building material supplier. The rights of these “mechanics” and “materialmen” to place liens upon real estate improved by their labor or materials arise not just from any statute, but from the Texas constitution itself. Article XVI, Section 37 of the Texas Constitution …
