Filing deadline

Mechanic's Lien Statement filed with the clerk of the circuit court (not the recorder) in the county of the property - each county if the land spans more than one - within 6 months of the last labor/material furnished under the contract (punch-list/warranty work doesn't extend the date). Rental-equipment suppliers get only 60 days from removal of the last equipment. The statement needs a just and true account: primes on lump-sum contracts may state a total, but subs/suppliers (and non-fixed-price primes) must itemize in enough detail for the owner to verify; new-residential liens must attach the Notice of Rights, contracts, invoices, and account.

Notice prerequisites

Layered notices. (1) Primes must give the statutory warning-language Notice to Owner before accepting any payment (ideally at contract signing and on every invoice); omission bars the lien, and fraudulent omission is a class B misdemeanor. (2) On remodel/repair of owner-occupied residential (4 units or fewer), subs/suppliers have no lien unless the owner signed the statutory Consent of Owner (10-pt bold) before work; the owner's full payment to the GC otherwise defeats their liens. (3) New-residential regime (post-2010): if the owner records a 45-day Notice of Intended Sale, every claimant at every tier must record a notarized Notice of Rights at least 5 days before the intended transfer or forfeit lien rights. (4) Rental-equipment suppliers must notify the owner within 15 business days of first equipment use (commercial only, claim over $5,000).

Service on the owner

Everyone except the original contractor must serve the owner a Notice of Intent to File Mechanic's Lien at least 10 days before filing, stating the amount and who owes it, served by someone competent to testify with an affidavit of service (recording it is prudent; recorder filing substitutes if the owner is out-of-county or evading). Practical effect: subs really have 6 months minus 10 days. Design professionals skip the owner notices, but their sub-consultants do not.

Enforcement

Suit in the county of filing within 6 months after the lien statement is filed, then prosecuted without unnecessary delay (including diligent service) or deemed abandoned. Contract-chain parties are necessary parties, and once one claimant files an equitable mechanics-lien action naming other record claimants, all others must join that single suit.

Mo. Rev. Stat. ch. 429 (esp. 429.010, 429.012, 429.013, 429.015, 429.070, 429.080, 429.100, 429.170); little Miller Act ch. 107