What’s New in this Release of Your Lien Writer® and Lien Releaser® Programs?

This is a summary of the changes and additions to the released versions of the program from Version 9.0.0.0 to Version 10.1.5.1.

10.1.5.1 – Minor Release

Several Minor Technical and State Upgrades - Mostly added for system and state updates. There were a lot of them;

Texas Forms - Changes made for Texas Private Jobs placed in the program prior to 12/31/2021. The old laws apply to these jobs.

10.1.5.0 – Major Release - Major Update, Please UPDATE

Several Minor Technical and State Upgrades - Mostly added for system and state updates. There were a lot of them;

New Texas Forms - For all notes on the update, please look at the TX section of the help file. The changes apply to Private (residential or commercial) jobs, not to public claims. All Pettit Forms for TX were revised.

Mass Delete of Empty Records for Current Jobs and Mass Undelete Current Jobs - An addition for Current Job records, the Mass Move Current Jobs to History there are two new options. A number of clients have reported that they have been adding blank records to Current Jobs. The first, Mass Delete Current Jobs Records for Empty Fields, allows you to delete records on a mass scale for empty (no text) fields such as Customer, Project, Owner, General Contractor or Lender / Surety, or any combination of the aforementioned fields. The second is the Mass Undelete Current Jobs, which allows you to restore every deleted record in the Current Jobs file. The second option only works until the records have been packed or the program has been updated- all deleted records are removed permanently at that point: Also, Mass Delete Current Jobs Records for Empty Fields does not move such records to the History File- it eliminates them!:

10.1.4.0 – Major Release - Major Update, Please UPDATE

Several Minor Technical and State Upgrades - Mostly added for system and state updates. There were a lot of them;

Display of Amounts Due - After nearly 30 years of data entry of our amounts displayed in Lien Writer® has been changed. Else where in the program when amounts were printed they always came out in the format, with commas, where an amount is $1,000.00 or more, but entry into the database was always displayed without the commas, as in $1000.00. We have modified the program to display all amount in the same $1,000.00 (or $10,000.00 or $100,000.00) format to make sure the correct amounts are displayed. Simply enter the amount without commas (no matter how it displays), then press the period "." button for the cents column of the amount, and it will formal the amount correctly. This will give you a double-check on the amount entered;

F1 Help on all Entry Fields - We found a number of fields in the Entry Screens did not have a HELP screen appear when F1 was pressed during entry on that field. It has been corrected for all the entry fields;

New Texas Forms - This state was a bit of a challenge this time. For all notes on the update, please look at the TX section of the help file. The changes apply to Private (residential or commercial) jobs, not to public claims.

10.1.3.0 – Major Release - Major Update, Please UPDATE

Several Minor Technical and State Upgrades - Mostly added for system and state updates;

Recorders Button - After nearly 20 years of operation our Recorders button no longer works as the site has been closed down. We have added an alternative site for the same information.

10.1.2.3 – Minor Release

Several Minor Technical Upgrades - Mostly added for system updates;

Removal of Foxtools64.dll - This file was removed for 32/64 bit systems. It will be uploaded in the 64 bit versions of Lien Writer® only.

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10.1.2.2 – Minor Release

Several Minor Technical Upgrades - Mostly added for system updates.

Extended Claim Filing - For many years, nearly 30, we allowed lien claims up to $99,999,999.99, or 99 million, 999 thousand, 999 dollars and 99 cents. Pretty big claims. Then, one client exceeded the claim limit with a $130,000,000.00 new claim! With that, we updated our databases to take claims up to $999,999,999.99. We suspect this will keep everyone covered for another 30 years.

10.1.2.1 – Minor Release

Several Minor Technical Upgrades - Mostly added for system updates.

10.1.2.0 - Major Release - Major Update, Please UPDATE

All Required State Updates

Tracking by Job # - Many of our clients use the Tracker system to keep track of their filings. We have added the Job # number of one of our tracking fields:

Florida Update - The Notice of Nonpayment will have a number of changes after October 1st, 2023. The major changes are 1) you must provide greater detail on what you furnished to the job, including the labor or material furnished (we already require that in our notices) and that you must provide a property description (we have always required that); 2) you must send a notice for rental equipment (we have always encouraged you do that, now it is required); 3) there is now a requirement of sending the notice under oath (we have always done that); 4) the Notice of Nonpayment changes some terms in the language and must be delivered or attempted to deliver to the party within the timeframe, not simply mailed within the timeframe (yeah, we see some issues occuring here. It is our recommendation you start tracking delivery of the notice once you have sent it- tell your sales department. Do not depending solely on the U.S. Postal Service. Using the Certified Mail Return is now strongly recommended); 5) You must signed the notice under oath rather than having your attorney sign the notices on your behalf (again, we see problems with this); and 6) while the Notice of Nonpayment timeframes of delivery no earlier than 45 days and no later 90 days will not change, lawsuits to enforce the claim are limited now to within 60 days after the notice is served;

Indiana Update - A number of minor changes to the law in this state. Mostly that the General Contractor is required in most cases to have a bond on the job now, which can be accessed by claimants. Be sure to ask all parties the name of the bonding company when you send out a Pre-Lien Notice to Owner of Mechanic’s Lien Rights;

Texas Update - We have made minor changes to the Texas forms for compliance with the law;

Nevada Mechanic's Lien - Updated with changes to operate on any computer;

Resetting Reference and File Number - We have found that some folks have been losing the Reference and File Numbers when installing from another location. We have set the numbers up so they are correct in all circumstances after entry;

Mark Lender 'N/A' - We have many users who do private jobs without a Lender, and like to enter a 'N/A' (Not Available) in the Lender's name area to remind them there is no lender, although it is not necessary for a legitimate pre-lien. Still they like to have the 'N/A' there, so we have added an option in System Defaults to enter this for you called Mark Lender 'N/A'. From the Main Menu Setup / Defaults for Lien Writer go in to page 8, third column and check the box Mark Lender 'N/A' and when ever you press the Add Job button the Lender field will have the 'N/A' added automatically. If you want, you can still edit all the fields for those times you do have a lender or surety.

10.1.1.3 - Minor Release - Minor Update, Please UPDATE

All Required State Updates

Tennessee Sworn Statement of Account for Notice to Owner - The Sworn Statement of Account for Tennessee Notice to Owner claims has been changed. If you send Tennesse preliminary claim forms update your program immediately.

10.1.1.2 - Minor Release - Minor Update, Please UPDATE

All Required State Updates

Firm Mailing Log of Accountable Mail - This U.S.P.S form was updated to comply with changes in the law;

Help File Changes - Pressing 'F1' on any individual field give the requirements for the field. These have been upgraded with changes in the laws of the various States and Provinces.

10.1.1.1 - Minor Release - Minor Update, Please UPDATE

All Required State Updates

Washington State Mechanic's Lien - Update to the Washington State Mechanic's Lien form, additional changes to conform with new laws.

10.1.1.0 - Major Release - Major Update, Please UPDATE

All Required State Updates

The following States have major changes. Please read the updates in the Help File - GA, ID, IA, KS, KY, LA, MS, NJ, ND, TX, UT and WY.

New Rhode Island Preliminary Notice - There is now a required preliminary notice for all Rhode Island jobs. When you do a job in Rhode Island, always send the Notice of Possible Mechanic's Lien within ten (10) days of starting the job, public and private works;

Nevada Notice of Intent - It's back! Nevada now again requires a Notice of Intent to Lien or Bond Claim (under Lien Warning Notices) 15 days prior to filing a lien on residential projects. Sending this notice on commercial projects is still optional, but recommended.

10.1.0.0 - Major Release - Major Update, Please UPDATE

All Required State Updates

Bond Claim Letter - A few clients have reported a problem when printing via Canon printers with this form dropping a left hand character when printing this document. We have adjusted the margin on this document and corrected the problem. It does not occur with the vast majority of printers;

Federal Preliminary Notice - Again, this document is not required for Federal Jobs, but many of our users like to use it to notify customers. We have revised the form slightly for better printing.

10.0.3.1 - Minor Release - Minor Update

All Required State Updates

Fix for Clearance of History Record Files - We found a error when clearing History files that prevents the proper deletion of History records. The former programs, when set to mass delete older History file records was deleting all History records, not just a select few. This can be corrected by selecting the Mass Undelete History Records for Empty Fields, but that still left the records active. The program has now been modified to delete only the specified records for deletion.

10.0.3.0 - Minor Release - Minor Update

This version is for compliance with the new on-line versions of LienWriter® and Lien Releaser®:

LienWriter: https://fwmsoftware.datamark.live/LienWriter/

Username: Demo

Password: D@tamarkLive

LienReleaser: https://fwmsoftware.datamark.live/LienReleaser/

Username: Demo2

Password: D@tamarkLive2

10.0.2.5 - Major Release - Major Update, Please UPDATE

All Required State Updates – Oregon, Rhode Island, all other States and Provinces

Revised Oregon and Rhode Island updates – As we began in the 10.0.1.5 version, we have all updates completed for both Oregon and Rhode Island forms. The older forms in the pre-10.0.2.5 version may not be accurate for your filings;

Texas Sworn Statement of Account (Exhibit ‘E’) – This is a major change. We had it reported to us by one of our active Texas users of problems with the Sworn Statement of Account (Exhibit ‘E’) dropping the signature date and reporting “bad date” when printed. It turns out the problem was not one we expected, but occurred during repeated data entry for the item. We ended up re-writing the entire section so this problem will not occur again during any Texas notice entry. Thanks to Blake at Lehigh Hanson for spotting the problem

Name Lengths – As you may be aware we increased our Owner, General Contractor, Lender/Surety, Customer and Company Names from 35 to 45 characters back in the 9.3.1.0 version. We have found, however, that, names that are the same in the first 35 characters are not being setup for mailing. This is due the program having the fields increased to 45 characters but checks were done on only the first 35 characters. This took a while to identify, since the 35 character limit actually covers some 99% of all jobs, and the change of any single character in the 35 made the items and mailings unique, but if the first 35 of the total 45 were the same, the program may not have sent out a notice on one of the parties. We have fixed this problem in the 10.0.2.5 version. Thanks to NACM for reporting this issue;

Revision of Electronic Mail Service (EMS, Pitney Bowes) - The fields in the Defaults file have been modified, slightly, to cover all situation. If you are using the service but are not using a specific ID# (the program using your job number, instead) you will setup the system as follows. Checking Electronic Mail Submission (EMS):

Activates Electronic Mail Submission, a Pitney Bowes system for printing your Preliminary Notices.

If you are using a ID# in EMS then check the box Use ID# in EMS and the program will from then on require the entry of an ID# in the ID# field of Current Jobs and History. If you uncheck the Electronic Mail Submission (EMS) field on Page 12 of Lien Writer® Defaults the field Use ID# in EMS is immediately blanked and not used in subsequent entry of Current Jobs and History.

10.0.2.1 - Major Release - Major Update

All Required State Updates - Oregon.

Revised Oregon Mechanic's Lien Release - Oregon now has a revised Mechanic's Lien form. It must be used when filing a Mechanic's Lien in the State of Oregon. The new law specifies changes in language and form design, and adds a notary filing for the county recorders office. This update follows the 10.0.2.0 revision where the notary form was added to the Mechanic’s Lien Release form for the State of Oregon. This addition applies to the Mechanic’s Lien.

You can pick up this new version of the program at www.fwmsoftware.com/downloads. If you are using a version of Lien Writer(®) less than 10.0.0.1 you will need to call us to get your new login code for your program at (530) 622-1344, Fax: (530) 622-1385 or Email us at registration@fwmsoftware.com.

10.0.2.0 - Major Release - Major Update

All Required State Updates - All States, where required.

SPECIAL NOTE: MAJOR UPDATE TO PRELIMINARY NOTICE FORMS, 30 STATES - THIS IS A MAJOR COMPLIANCE UPGRADE. Our forms have always been legal for filing claims in all states, but recent court law changes in a few states have required our making changes to our forms to comply. The reasons for this are involved, but the courts always have the final say. To designate a party in our forms we have always used the word "person". However, a couple of States with liberal judges have been denying or restricting claims under "person" when a business name is being used, such as the owner of this company, Frank W. Moore, but whose company goes by the business name FWM Software, LLC. These courts have held that the proper name to be used in setting up a claim should be "person" for a person filing the claims and "entity" for a business or corporation filing the claims. Our revised forms designate a "person or entity" in all places where "person" was used alone before. As the idea seems to have taken hold, we are making sure we have your company covered in all circumstances. This project took some 6 months, and we are sorry for the delay;

Revised Oregon Mechanic's Lien Release - Oregon has a revised Mechanic's Lien Release form. It must be used when releasing a Mechanic's Lien you have filed in the State of Oregon. The new law specifies changes in language and form design.

You can pick up this new version of the program at www.fwmsoftware.com/downloads. If you are using a version of Lien Writer(®) less than 10.0.0.1 you will need to call us to get your new login code for your program at (530) 622-1344, Fax: (530) 622-1385 or Email us at registration@fwmsoftware.com. If you are using version 9.3.2.7 or less, please also attach a copy of the "About Lien Writer" screen in your Fax or Email to our office.

10.0.1.5 - Major Release - Major Update

All Required State Upgrades - All States, where required.

Additional Legal Parties Update - We have found an error in our programs when you have to add additional legal parties to a job. This effects all jobs, all States and Provinces. It required major study and repair to the program to make this work in all instantances. We are suggesting that any version of the program, from 10.0.1.0 and earlier, has this flaw and we strongly urge our customers to pick up the latest version 10.0.1.5 and above.

You can pick up the new version at www.fwmsoftware.com/downloads. You will need to call us to get your new login code for your program at (530) 622-1344, Fax: (530) 622-1385 or Email us at registration@fwmsoftware.com. The latest State and Province upgrades are contained within.

10.0.1.0 – MAJOR RELEASE – Major Upgrade

All Required State Upgrades - All States, where required.

New Help File - The State Lien Help.chm file (your HELP file) has been completely updated and revised. Everything describing the program and all features has been revised.

Revised California Forms - For compliance with changes to California Law.

You can pick up the new version at www.fwmsoftware.com/downloads. You will need to call us to get your new login code for your program at (530) 622-1344, Fax: (530) 622-1385 or Email us at registration@fwmsoftware.com. The latest State and Province upgrades are contained within.

10.0.0.1 – MINOR RELEASE – Installer Improvement

Installer Improvement – Now installs in any system.

You can pick up the new version at www.fwmsoftware.com/downloads. You will need to call us to get your new login code for your program at (530) 622-1344, Fax: (530) 622-1385 or Email us at registration@fwmsoftware.com. The latest State and Province upgrades are contained within.

SPECIAL NOTE – For those who need it, we will have a new 64-bit version of our program by July 15th, 2017. This will be for systems that do not have 32-bit capability. And, maximum file sizes for our programs will increase from 2.5 gigabytes to over 8.7 gigabytes, aside from being 30% faster still then our 32/64 bit Version 10.0.0.1 system (50% faster than the Version 9 family!!). Stay tuned for more information.

10.0.0.0 – MAJOR RELEASE – Major Upgrade

New Programming Language – After many years, we have, at last, abandoned Microsoft’s Visual Foxpro 9.2 for another language platform. This new version of our program will work under Windows 7.0, 8.0, 8.1, 10, and on to the future, both as a 32/64 bit program and, this Summer, as a full 64 bit program!! We were worried that under VFP 9.2 our program would now have to be converted to another computer language system to continue, an expensive proposition. Now we are figuring our program will outlive everyone. Congrats to our program supplier for helping us with the conversion.

What’s mean to you? Nothing, actually, as the program will continue as before. One thing, though. The new native language runs a minimum of 20% faster than the older programs. We have also gone to a new password system that allows you to first update all of your systems, then boot one to give it your passcode and they all will immediately work!

You can pick up the new version at www.fwmsoftware.com/downloads. If you don’t remember your password, use our SCID Code of DC1232C to log onto our site. You will need to call us to get your new login code for your program at (530) 622-1344, Fax: (530) 622-1385 or Email us at registration@fwmsoftware.com. The latest State and Province upgrades are contained within

9.3.2.7 – MAJOR RELEASE – Major Upgrade

Installer Fixes – New system would not install on some computers. Fixed problem.

9.3.2.6 – MAJOR RELEASE – Major Upgrade

All Required State Upgrades – All States, where required

New Version of Base Program – We have upgraded with a new 32-bit version of our programming language. A new 64-bit version of the program will be available in early May, for those interested.

New Pettit Forms Update – The Federal Government has required changes to the Certified Green Cards again and Pettit Forms has complied. The difference is the forms you have. If you are using the older forms, change nothing. If you have ordered the new forms from Pettit Manifold Forms, with the revision date of 7-2015 on the Green Card, check both the Use Suffix Numbers and the Use 7-2015 Forms checkboxes on page 4, Certified Number Setup (4), of the Lien Writer® Defaults screen:

9.3.2.0 – MAJOR RELEASE – Major Upgrade

All Required State Upgrades – Including the minor changes to Louisiana forms and to Mississippi forms;

Mississippi Lien Warning Notice – If you have not printed a Waiver and Release form for Mississippi (MS) you can still file a Mechanic’s Lien. We have modified the program to handle claims where no Waiver and Release form was ever printed;

Electronic Data Transmission – Improvements were made to this file to allow it to work with Pitney Bowes new electronic printing and mail service;

Technical Bulletins – TB0006 Virus Protect Program Exclusions and TB0007 Terminal Servicer and Resource File Errors.

9.3.1.9 - Minor Release – Changes to Preliminary Forms

Nebraska Preliminary Notice Forms – Some minor changes to our forms to comply with Nebraska modifications. There are now commercial and residential forms. The Nebraska Pettit Form was also modified for compliance. Thanks to Connie and Susan at NACM – National for spotting the need for these changes.

9.3.1.7 - Minor Release – Changes to Preliminary Forms

Florida Preliminary Notice Forms – Some minor changes to our forms to comply with recent Florida modifications;

Electronic Mail Submission Revisions – New features include the ability to print prelims for every involved party and a new CSV file with CHR(10) terminated lines.

9.3.1.5 - Major Release – Additions to Program

California Notary Forms –When you use a California Notary Form you are now required to state a signers name and title in the form. We were not clear on this in the entry screens. We have modified the Notary setup form setup screens accordingly. Divide the Name and Title with a comma:

“Find” Reference Screens – One major additions to the Find buttons next to fields is the ability to have a populated field data short on lookups. For example in our database we entered “WATPASI” in the Customer fileld and pressed Find:

And the Reference screen displays the the closest matching record, rather than the beginning of the list and having you search for a record. This will save time having you have to search through the list to make a choice. The selection buttons still have the same choices:

Expanded Reference Screens- Also note on the above screen it has been expanded to include a complete address, handy when you have to make a choice of multiple similarly named records:

Signer/Mailer in the Release of Mechanic’s Lien – This section has been modified to allow a modification of the Signer, Signer Title, Mailer and Mailer Title when printing these documents. It was not allowing modifications before:

Revised FL Preliminary Notices – The Pettit form has been upgraded to comply with the current Florida form statutes, including the Demand for Copy of Payment Bond. This can also be turned off on Page 12 of Lien Writer® Defaults;

Customer P.O. Field – This field length was increased to 40 characters by user requests;

Electronic Mail Submission – A new feature in the program, this one allows you to generate your forms with an CSV file to services like Pitney Bowes for printing, fast and easy. See the section under Printing / Processing Documents | Electronic Mail Submission | Electronic Mail Submission for more information;

Import/Export Records via Other Formats – This section has modifications to the Import and Export feature to handle the Import or Export of CSV, SDF and Delimited records correct. Before we had the MEMO type fields spread throughout the table, which could cause some problems with the routine. We have moved all the MEMO type fields to the end of the database table to prevent this problem. See the section on Import/Export Records via Other Formats for more information;

Cleanup Company Table – We have had clients, especially large clients, report that their Company table sometimes has accumulated a large number of blank records in their system from a variety of sources, with no option to remove these records except deleting them one by one. To mass cleanup these records, we have added the Edit / Cleanup Company Table option on the Main Menu. If the Company was records with no Company Code choosing this option removes the records, which cannot be used anyway without a company code. See the Help file section on Edit / Cleanup Company Table for more information.

9.3.1.1 - MAJOR RELEASE – 20 state changes and much more

Additional Mass Deletion options – In the Mass Move or Delete History Records there are two new options. The first, Mass Delete for Empty Fields allows you to delete records on a mass scale for empty (no text) fields such as Customer, Project, Owner, General Contractor or Lender / Surety, or any combination of the aforementioned fields. Second is the Mass Undelete History Records, which allows you to restore every deleted record in the History file. The second option only works until the records have been packed or the program has been updated- all deleted records are removed permanently at that point:

2 5/8” x 1” Labels Updated – The format for the standard 2 5/8” x 1” Avery Labels (type 5160 and 5163) has been changed to conform with the new standards for the labels, which include a entry gap between the labels on the form paper (guess they are trying to save money). This now prints for the labels correctly;

Jobs Pre-Liened and Jobs Not Pre-Liened Reports – These reports have been modified to show the Estimated Amount or Balance Due fields;

WA Mechanic’s Liens – Changes were made to the Notary Public Forms for Washington State filings;

Texas Fund Trapping Letter – This letter was modified again to include some new Texas requirements;

MS Mechanic’s Lien – Some more changes to the Mississippi Mechanic’s Lien to comply with different county requirements. The property description Exhibit A has now been integrated in to the lien form;

CA Notary Public – The notary public from for California changed on January 1st, 2015. There were last minute State changes to the form and we apologize for the late release, but all the late and final state changes have been added.

9.3.0.5 - MAJOR RELEASE – Changes to Lien Forms, system operation and much more

Minor Fixes to 9.3.0.0 General Release – Too many to count. All are fixed, however.

Additions to Technical Support Section of Help –There are two new sections in this area:

• TB005 SMB2 Workstation Cache Configuration: This option is for database speed improvement by disabling the SMB2 features of Windows;

• TB006 Virus Protection Program Exclusions: A discussion on how to improve your access speed by disabling your anti-Virus programs default search of the program database files with the *.DBF, *.FPT and *.CDX extensions.

File # - In Pettit Forms, the File # designation has been moved from the addressee address block, were some clients found it confusing their clients, to the return address block;

Import/Export Records ia Other Formats – This part of the system has been updated to import the now 197 fields in the Current Jobs and History tables (up from 155 fields). Read this section and see if you need to import the additional information;

AZ Preliminary Notices – With all of the additional options in Lien Writer® we found that parts of the AZ Preliminary Notice forms were overwriting some of the text in the return letter and making the signature line in the Proof of Service by Mail Affidavit unavailable. This has been completely fixed.

New Option in TX Preliminary Notices – Another option is available in the Texas Preliminary Notices. Where as the program was changed, correctly in our minds, to display the balance due in both locations in the form (wereas the Estimated Amount printed in the first position formally) with an option to print the Estimated Amount on the form, we have added an option to have the first balance due amount print using the Estimated Amount field again with the balance due still printing the notice area. Once again, we do not recommend using this option for Texas. If you wish to do it this way, check the Display Est. Amt. in Bal. Due on TX Prelims option, but on your head to do so:

Notice to Owner of Lien Filing - Another feature added to the lien claim is the addition of the Certified # printing on the notice forms of mechanic’s liens. For all states, provinces and USA Territories, where a Notice of the mechanics lien is sent, it will now contain the Certified number of the mailing:

NEW CERTIFIED NUMBER TYPE – The Post Office is making available a new Certified Number standard that may become the required within a couple of years. The numbers are a variation on the older 22/20 digit format:

91 9176 3032 9392 9392 5343 or

9176 3032 9392 9392 5343

The new format is slightly different:

91 9176 3032 9392 9392 5343 01 or

9176 3032 9392 9392 5343 01

The entry of the numbers is the same, with these differences.

1) You check the Use Suffix Numbers checkbox;

2) Electronic Cerification – Same

3) Certified Prefix – Same

4) Certified Starting Number, Last Certified Number Used and Certified Ending Number – The entry of these numbers has increased to 14 number characters (the last digit of a certified number is generated by the program), so after the Certified Prefix you enter the next 14 number characters:

Electronic Certification: 91, 92, 93, 94, 95 or blank 91

Certified Prefix: 9176 303

Certified Incrementing Number: 29392939253430

The program will handle the incrementing, printing and saving of all numbers.

9.3,0.0 - MAJOR RELEASE – Changes to Lien Forms, system operation and much more

Technical Bulletin TB0002 – Upgrading an XP system? What you need to know to do so is covered in Technical Bulletin TB0002, Moving Lien Writer® to a New Computer. All details for installing on a new 64-bit or older 32-bit system are included in this revised bulletin;

Technical Bulletin TB0004 – Since it’s inception Lien Writer® has always stored its data files in a local directory, the same where the program is installed, for a older 32-bit system at c:\program files\lien program, and on the newer 64-bit systems at c:\program files (x86)\lien program. While we are not changing that basic installation, there are reasons users may want to consider moving their data files to a network location so the files are regularly backed up. This new bulletin gives details on how to set this up quickly and easily;

Compliance for Bond Claims – Several recent court decisions have stated that when filing bond claims, public or private, that the claim should be statutory, accurate and now should include the Account or Bond number of the Lender or Surety. We have revised our forms to always name the lender or bond number when printed, from Claims to the Exhibit D form;

Massachusetts Public Forms – In our last revision the public forms were modified but expansion causes some problems with page sizing. This has been corrected;

Mississippi Pre-lien, Waivers and Lien Warning Notice – Heh, what are those? Yes, the State of Mississippi, with the most primitive of Mechanic’s Lien laws, has jumped into the 21st Century with bells on. Before you verily had no lien rights unless you were a General or Prime Subcontractor, now everyone has rights to a claim, but they must be initiated with a Pre-Lien notice. See the Mississippi section in the Help file for Pre-Lien Notice ot Owner and General Contractor, Private Work, lien waivers (now required, ),and the Affidavit of Non-Payment (to revoke lien waivers);

Mississippi Stop Payment Notice – Often used by non-contractual claimants on jobs, these notices has been invalidated by the U.S. District Court. See the Help file entry under Help, Individual States, Provinces and Territories / USA / Mississippi / Mississippi Preliminary Notice, Private Work (or Public Work) for more information.

Optional Texas Single Notice – This option allows you to setup the program to print one recurring TX notice:

First, you must check the box Use TX Single Notice on page 11 of Lien Writer® Defaults

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By checking this option you will be able to print on a single record multiple notices to the owner and general contractor, up to 9. These changes only happen if this field checked:

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By using this option, the presumption is that everything is maintained in one record, you simply adjust the balance due and the Last Date Shipped with every claim you make. The claim printed forms we modified to allow this:

Pettit Form:

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Plain paper form:

NOTICE TO OWNER

* IN ACCORDANCE WITH TEXAS GOVERNMENT CODES THE ATTACHED INVOICES OR STATEMENTS ARE A TRUE AND ACCURATE

ACCOUNT OF MATERIALS, EQUIPMENT OR LABOR SUPPLIED DURING THE MONTH(S) OF SEPTEMBER, 2013, THROUGH OCTOBER,

2013. THIS NOTICE IS SENT IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE TEXAS PROPERTY CODE MECHANIC'S LIEN PROVISIONS, INCLUDING

SECTION 53.056.

* THE UNDERSIGNED CONTRACTOR, SUBCONTRACTOR, MATERIALMAN OR LABORER HAS AN UNPAID BALANCE DUE OF $8,000.00.

A COPY OF THE STATEMENT OR BILLING IS ATTACHED.

* IF A SUBCONTRACTOR OR SUPPLIER WHO FURNISHES MATERIALS OR PERFORMS LABOR FOR CONSTRUCTION OF IMPROVEMENTS

ON YOUR PROPERTY IS NOT PAID, YOUR PROPERTY MAY BE SUBJECT TO A LIEN FOR THE UNPAID AMOUNT IF: (1) AFTER

RECEIVING NOTICE OF THE UNPAID CLAIM FROM THE CLAIMANT, YOU FAIL TO WITHHOLD PAYMENT TO YOUR CONTRACTOR

THAT IS SUFFICIENT TO COVER THE UNPAID CLAIM UNTIL THE DISPUTE IS RESOLVED; OR (2) DURING CONSTRUCTION AND

FOR 30 DAYS AFTER COMPLETION OF CONSTRUCTION YOU FAIL TO RETAIN 10 PERCENT OF THE CONTRACT PRICE OR 10

PERCENT OF THE VALUE OF THE WORK PERFORMED BY YOUR CONTRACTOR.

* RESIDENTIAL OWNERS ONLY: IF YOU HAVE COMPLIED WITH THE LAW REGARDING THE 10 PERCENT RETAINAGE AND YOU

HAVE WITHHELD PAYMENT TO THE CONTRACTOR SUFFICIENT TO COVER ANY WRITTEN NOTICE OF CLAIM AND HAVE PAID THAT

AMOUNT, IF ANY, TO THE CLAIMANT, ANY LIEN CLAIM FILED ON YOUR PROPERTY BY A SUBCONTRACTOR OR SUPPLIER,

OTHER THAN A PERSON WHO CONTRACTED DIRECTLY WITH YOU, WILL NOT BE A VALID LIEN ON YOUR PROPERTY. IN

ADDITION, EXCEPT FOR THE REQUIRED 10 PERCENT RETAINAGE, YOU ARE NOT LIABLE TO A SUBCONTRACTOR BEFORE YOU

RECEIVE WRITTEN NOTICE OF THE CLAIM.

* IF OUR BILL IS NOT PAID, YOU MAY BE PERSONALLY LIABLE AND YOUR PROPERTY SUBJECTED TO A LIEN UNLESS YOU

WITHHOLD PAYMENTS TO THE CONTRACTOR FOR THE PAYMENT OF OUR STATEMENT OR UNLESS THE BILL IS OTHERWISE PAID

OR SETTLED.

The idea being you send out a revised notice for every month on your Texas claims. If you need to file a mechanic’s lien you can do so at any time on the amount due.

State of Kentucky – Some major changes:

1) Notice of Contract – The Notice of Owner has been changed to the Notice of Contract, required for all parties under a contract with the General Contractor. All mailed forms must be sent certifed mail and notarized. Use as a Preliminary Notice;

2) Notice of Intent to File Lien – This notice must be sent by all parties planning to claim a lien. Send after the mailing of the Notice of Contract;

3) Kentucky waivers and releases print with the required notary form;

4) Minor changes to other forms for Kentucky;

Read Only Setting for users – This new feature allows you to set up a user a read only participant in the system, able to see everything but due nothing, not even edit records. To set up a read only user:

Check all of the box fields under Security on page 1 of Program Setup Defaults, with the exception of Allow Deletions in Tracker. In particular, the new Set system as Read Only activates this feature.

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Once set, close and restart the program. You will find you can view, but not edit, any field in the program. We also suggest that you assign a password (Set Password) to this system to prevent any restricted user from changing the settings here.

Choosing Certified Number Set – For many years there has been one certified number set in our system, for either Pettit Forms or Plain Paper Forms. Bowing to the pressure we now had added two certified numbers sets, one specifically for Pettit Forms, the other specifically for Plain Paper forms. It works like this:

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If you using a Pettit Form with certified numbers, enter the numbers on the left. If you are using plain paper forms for any form generation, use the numbers on the right. The forms will use this particular number set, including preliminary notices, lien warning notices and mechanic’s liens and bond claims.

9.2.9.9.2 - Minor Release – Changes to Lien Forms

Changes to Prevent “Double Running – Minor changes to prevent the “Double Running” of a program. Some Terminal Servicer systems will allowing double instances of the program to run, and this has been prevented.

9.2.9.9.1 - Minor Release – Changes to Lien Forms

More NC Changes – Minor changes for multiple mailers on the Notices and the Lien Agent Claim Form. Sorry folks this state is in flux at the moment.

9.2.9.9 - Minor Release – Changes to Lien Forms

NC Notice to Lien Agent – Minor changes for multiple mailers on the Lien Agent Claim Form;

FL Preliminary Notice – Added alternate claim form for Lessees of Owners. Still wise to notice the owner, too, if possible:

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9.2.9.8 - Minor Release – Changes to Lien Forms

NC Form Changes – Amount due is added to all forms for all conditions, Pettit forms or plain paper;

Field Size Increases – All name and address filelds in the program have been increased in size from 35 characters to 45 characters, increasing the name size from the fields from 70 to 90 characters for name and 35 to 45 for address, and 35 to 45 for country, making a total increase in the name, attention, address, city, state, zip and country, of the address block to 215 from 150 characters;

Removing Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested, From Claims – A new option on page 8 of Program Setup Defaults, called Do Not Use Return Receipt Requested in Docs, removes the printing of Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested from filing claims, printing only Certified Mail in it’s place. This was added at the request of a client and we do not necessarily endorse its usage, but if your attorney wants to use it, check it!

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The Company Contact Person has been added to the Pettit Forms – If you have setup a Contact in the Company Information page:

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And the Use Company Contact in Signatures has been setup on page 11 of Program Setup Defaults:

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And you will find at the signature line the Contact for the Company record:

:

The description extends to 80 characters now:

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9.2.9.7 – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Pettit Form Printing for Types 13, 14 and 15 – A bug slipped into the program for printing forms for Type 13, 14 and 15 (Dot-Matrix Printers) with non-custom printers where the Print Directly to Printer for Pettit Forms and Walz Forms (Must be set to RAW and Spooled) has been checked. This has been fixed:

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Pettit Form Type 60, Mail Affidavit Added – The remaining states needing a Mail Affidavit has been added for Type 60 forms. All you need to is check the box on Page 3 of Lien Writer Defaults if you desire the mail affidavit to print. Specifically Restricted in some states:

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9.2.9.6 – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Election to not send Washington Customer Notice Certified – This option, called Do Not Certify Washington Customer Notice allows you to print a customer notice with the other certified notices, in the Current Jobs or History screen, along with your ordinary forms. For Pettit forms you must use a plain paper Pettit form or a plain piece of 8.5” x 14” paper. We added this at the request of a new client, but we do not necessarily recommend it’s use;

Problems with booting Lien Writer® Single State version – Some users of the single state version were noting a problem with booting our software. This has been fixed for all systems.

9.2.9.5 – MAJOR RELEASE – Changes to Lien Forms, system operation and much more

Most Major Update in Years – Many, many upgrades and changes (see below);

New Screens Colors – Every screen in the system has been colorized. The colors mean something in the area you use it;

system new and improved but obviously the same in usage;

New System Default Options – We have several new files in System Defaults:

• Default Signers Apply to Preliminary Notices Only – A number of users have stated that they wish to setup Preliminary Notice signers different than the Company signer and mailer, and we have that covered on Page 5 of System Defaults. When this box on Page 5 is checked, the printing of any other document, from releases through mechanic’s liens, will have the Credit Managers signature on them, while the preliminary notices will the signer as defined on Page 5;

• Always use Company Phone, Fax and E-mail – On Page 4 of System Defaults you can add a overriding phone, fax and email address. Checking this box will send all documents out with the Company phone fax and e-mail instead;

North Carolina Notice to Lien Agent – In the final part of the North Carolina upgrade as of 04/01/2013, we have added the Notice to Lien Agent letter for your designed insurance agency lien agent. You must send a claim to your designed lien agent. You can sign up for an agency to report to at . You must fill in your designated agency’s name the new Lien Agents option in the File area of the Main Menu. Once entered, any Lien Agent can be modify by looking up with the Locate feature. A notice is sent to the Lien Agent, when the agent is reported to you by the owner. The letter must be notarized and sent by certified mail, USPS Signature Confirmation, Electronic Mail with delivery receipt, physical delivery, with receipt, Facsimile, with fax confirmation, or by a certified delivery service:

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The Notice of Lien Agent will print out as a form for mailing to your designated agent in an #10 single or double pane envelope. The letter must be notarized;

New Hampshire Preliminary Notices – Although they are not required for the State of New Hampshire, we have restored the ability to do Preliminary Notices in that state;

Export the tracker report into Excel - A new button has been added to the system Tracker for exporting the listed Tracker information to a spreadsheet file, format CSV. The generated CSV files are stored within the program in their own directory ( CSV ), but can be accessed and moved anywhere you need the file:

For example, go to the newly expanded Tracker screen (fields Region, Cust.No, Est. Amount and Bond Date have been added and the screen now scrolls left to right). Press the new button Send Report to CSV File:

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The Tracker to CSV export screen will appear. Enter the Tracker CSV Description. (description) then press the Create & Review button. Your Tracker CSV File will be built in your CSV directory where your databases are located:

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The program will build the CSV file for you at the CSV path, then confirm with a display of the CSV file;

If you press the View Last File option, the program will display the last report in your spreadsheet program, or you can choose the file or any other file in the CSV Manager:

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Press Close to exit back to the Tracker screen.

All CSV files, as they are generated, are also stored under the CSV Reports / CSV Reports I CSV Manager section of the Main Menu;

CSV Manager – References to all CSV files generated by the Lien Writer® program are stored in the CSV Reports / CSV Reports I CSV Manager. Any report saved for any date can be managed by an authorized user, set up in the Security section of Page 1 of System Defaults.

In this section you can manage any user’s right to add, modify or delete any CSV file stored in the program by checking the Gray Out Add, Modify and Deletion of CSV Files checkbox:

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Key Performance Indicator Reports – Intended for larger companies maintaining a number of location, this new CSV report generates data base on a number of criteria you can control. Access this report from the Main Menu’s CSV and PDF Reports / CSV Reports / Key Performance Indicator Reports selection. You use the screen to build your CSV reports based on the Set Report Sort and ranges set by the fields in the screen:

To create a report, enter your selection data, enter the name of your KPI CSV Description and press Create File:

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The report is generated:

And can be again viewed, if closed, by the View Last File button, or:

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Or view it or others in the CSV Manager:

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Job Information Sheets – These have been completely revised. To create, on the Current Jobs or History screen, press the Print button then select Request for Job Information. The report, which can be mailed or faxed to your client, will fill in with whatever data you have in the screen. If you use the Reference screen to generate your forms, pressing the Info. Req. button on the screen, the form will print as a blank form;

Region Added to Company, Current Jobs and History screens - We have added the Region. Region is 32 character field that states a region a particular company covers for its work. It has long be used in Lien Writer Pro® as a way to divide up billing, but we have expanded it specify regions covered by a company;

The Region field is active in all Company Setup screens. It is also a search field:

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It automatically sets up in Current Jobs and History records when you choose a Company record. You cannot edit the field in Current Jobs or History; it is part of the Company record:

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To update Region for all previously existing records when you setup the companies with your new Region settings, use the Main Menu option Setup / File Maintenance / Force Database Rebuild to force an update of the database.

If you need to change a Region code, you can use the Mass Change Region section of the program. It will change any Region settings for any Company Code in the Company, Current Jobs and History files.

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Set Filter Greatly Expand – The capabilities of Set Filter in the program has been greatly expanded. A record filter in the program means that you filter your database to match only the records set in the filter, i.e., if you set the filter to a Company or Station you can work only the records that match or both filters. For example, if you set the Company Code to ‘A1’ and the station code to your station, for example,‘SALES3-PC # fmoore’, only the records in the system with Company Code ‘A1’ and the Station Code ‘SALES3-PC # fmoore’ will display in the program:

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You can press the button with a post-it picture to access the station you have setup in System Defaults. Once set, you will find you can access, print, work with, etc., only those records listed by the filter:

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Press Clear Filter to remove any filter setup.

The filter options you have set up are stored in Setup Display Record Filter on Page 7 of the Setup Defaults:

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For the addition of records, you can setup a Default Station ID for the generation of new accounts. Specify if the Station ID is automatically setup during record entry by checking Auto-Enter Station ID for Marked Operations and if you must automatically use the Station ID during printing and other operations by checking Must Use During Marked Records Operations:

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Gray Out Station ID and Copy Button – For those client who want to restrict users from modifying the Station ID during Current Jobs or History entry, you can check the Gray Out Station ID and Copy Button on Page 1 of Setup Defaults:

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This will prevent users from modifying the Station ID in the individual Current Job or History records, handy in large scale operations:

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Pettit Laser Forms – The General or Other Contractor designation on California Preliminary Notices has been changed to Direct or Other Contractor;

9.2.9.4 – Minor Release – Changes to Lien Forms

Walz Forms, 8.5” x 11” Laser Forms – If you use 8.5” x 11” Walz Laser Forms, there is a new format to the standard form that required changes. The program will now work with the older forms and the newer forms.

9.2.9.3 – Minor Release – Changes to Lien Forms

Texas Forms Printing on Pettit Type 60 Stock, Public Preliminary Notice – Another addition was added for the proper printing of these notices.

9.2.9.2 – Minor Release – Changes to Lien Forms

Texas Forms Printing on Pettit Type 60 Stock – We found some issues when printing the new necessary Notice to Owner and Contractor claims on Pettit Forms for Texas claims. All of the issues have been resolved, creating a superior Texas claim processing system.

9.2.9.1 – MAJOR RELEASE – Major Upgrade – Changes to Lien Forms

Arizona (non) Changes – A recent ruling from the Arizona Supreme Court made Lien Processing Services illegal in the state. The AZ Supreme Court has since reversed its decision, instead opting to send the related matters back to the legislature for further legislation, thus making the current law in Arizona the same as it had been prior to the court’s initial decision.

California – Stop Notice only – This form has been changed to reflect the new Direct Contractor designation instead of former Original Contractor reference that existed in earlier lien law.

Iowa Changes, January 14, 2013 – Numerous changes have been made to the Iowa statutes, including some new contractual requirements for residential owners. See the notes within the Individual States Provinces and Territories section of this Help File for more details.

Kansas Changes – The Kansas forms have been modified to cover new changes in the law.

New Hampshire – This state’s lien law have substantially changed. No Statement of Account for the Claim is required (thus eliminating the need for the form in the preliminary notice section), also the Lien Warning Notice and the Private Mechanic’s Lien sections have been expanded substantially.

North Carolina Changes, January 2013 – A new Notice of Public Subcontract for the public preliminary notice and a new Notice of Claim upon Funds by Subcontractor/Supplier for the Mechanic’s Lien for the private mechanic’s lien have been added. These forms are described within the Individual States Provinces and Territories section of this Help File. Additional changes to North Carolina’s lien law will go into effect in April, and will be reflected in a future version of Lien Writer.

Utah Changes – The Utah Mechanic’s Lien form has been changed to comply with changes in the law.

Wyoming Changes, January 17, 2013 – All new forms have been added for Wyoming, with appropriate text and statute changes.

Changes in Form Options Affecting Texas Forms

Sworn Statements of Account – The addition of an option not to print the Exhibit ‘E’ – The Sworn Statement of Account has been added. This option has been added to accommodate a client’s request, Lien Writer advises users to continue to print and send Sworn Statements of Accounts, and leave this option unused. The option not to print the Exhibit ‘E’ is found on page 11 of the Lien Writer Defaults.

Request for Affidavit for Completion and Verification of Legal Parties – The addition of an option not to print Request for Affidavit for Completion and Verification of Legal Parties has been added. This option has been added to accommodate a client’s request, Lien Writer advises users to continue to print and send Request for Affidavit for Completion and Verification of Legal Parties, and leave this option unused. The option not to print the Request for Affidavit for Completion and Verification of Legal Parties. is found on page 11 of the Lien Writer Defaults.

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General Changes to Program Features

Print Options Update – The program formerly allowed the changing of the printer in the Preliminary Notice and Waiver and Release document one-off print settings screen. With the addition of a designation for the Waiver and Release printer in the program setup, this has become unnecessary. This printer selector in the one-off print settings screen has been removed:

For each machine setup with Lien Writer®, select the printer for each of the form types in Printer Setup (in the Setup Menu):

Pettit Forms – The Pettit Laser Form has been adjusted to prevent the over-printing of text in the Customer address.

Customer No. instead of P.O. setting – for Preliminary Notices – Use the Customer No. instead of P.O. setting, available on Page 11 of Lien Writer Defaults, to switch in the reference in the header of your preliminary notice from Payment Order number to Customer Number.

No Signature or Mailer Lines – for Preliminary Notices – Use No Signature or Mailer Lines setting, available on Page 11 of Lien Writer Defaults, to remove the signatures lines from plain-paper preliminary notices. This makes the program consistent with our Pettit Forms option for no signature which we have had in the program since 2003:

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9.2.8.5 - MAJOR RELEASE – Major Upgrade – Must download new program and install

LIEN WRITER PRO® ONLY:

Improvments to the Billing Program – Several new functions have been added to the automatic billing system for Lien Writer Pro®:

1) Upon saving the printed records, the program automatically will update the next invoice due date;

2) The billing system has been greatly improved;

3) Setup and review of billing items has been vastly expanded in the Accounting Main Menu area. Both the Mass Document A/R Detail Entry / Update and the A/R Detail Entry / Update screens now contain a filter to reduce the number of items you have to review in the billing, right down to a single company and a set period of time. This should help eliminate unneeded items in your reviews of data:

4) In the Print Invoices screen the system has been made easier to print and review invoices from the computer to the printer, and allow the Print Client Invoices and Post Monthly Invoices to run as separate operations:

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ALL LIEN WRITER® PROGRAMS:

Texas, Final Modifications – In the final analysis of the Texas preliminary notice processing, we are now recommending the following:

1) Both Public and Private Texas Preliminary Notices must be sent to the General Contractor on the first notice and to the General Contractor and the Owner on the second notice. If you elect to send the owner on the first notice that is fine, but you may upset the Texas General Contractors. If you do elect to do this, check the Send TX notices to the General/Owner at the same time in page 11 of the Program Defaults screen. Your option:

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So, to be clear, the first preliminary notice, public or private, is sent by the second month of the job following the supply month (your work was In June, so you send by August 15th) for commercial projects, or by the first month of the job following the work month (your work was in June, so you send by July 15th) for residential projects. Normally you send only to the General Contractor, but you can elect to include the Owner. The second preliminary notice, public or private, is sent by the third month of the job following the supply month (your work was in June, so you send by September 15th) for commercial projects, or by the second month of the job following the work month (our work was in June, so you send by August 15th) for residential projects. Send the second notice to both the General Contractor and Owner.

2) Both the Public and Private job must have a third notice sent on all jobs by using the Lien Warning Notice option under the Print button. The dates due again are by the fourth month for commercial projects, and the third month for residential projects. This is the lien warning notice, and you will next file a mechanic’s lien.

3) For commercial projects, by the fifth month (by the 15th), and for residential projects, by the fourth month (by the 15th), file your mechanic’s lien;

Texas Funds Trapping Letter from Derivative Claimant To Owner and Original Contractor – This letter has been modified for Texas claims so it can be sent with the Original Preliminary Notice rather than at the end of a project claim when nothing may be left to collect. To use this option, setup the Print TX Preliens w/Fund Trapping on page 11 of Lien Writer® Defaults:

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Which will force the Fund Trapping Letter to print with your TX preliminary notice, and thus establish a demand that your funds start being reserved as of the date of this notice. Formerly, when used only with the Mechanic’s Lien, your funds may not have been reserved for an additional 4-5 months, and this puts the General Contractor and Owner on notice you expect that they will be reserved for payment on your claim;

Texas Sworn Statement of Account – This letter has been modified for Texas claims so it can be sent with the Original Preliminary Notice rather than at the end of a preliminary notice, when nothing may be left to collect. To use this option, setup the Print Texas Prelien w/Sworn Statement on page 11 of Lien Writer Defaults:

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Which will force the Sworn Statement to print with your TX preliminary notice, and thus establish a demand that your fees are due as the date of this notice. Formerly, when used only with the Mechanic’s Lien, you funds may not have been reserved for an additional 4-5 months, and this puts the General Contractor and Owner on notice you expect that they will be reserved for payment on your claim.

Texas Notice of Filing Lien Affidavit from Derivative Client to Owner and Original Contactor – This form as been modified to this effect. If the Print TX Preliens w/Fund Trapping box has been checked on page 11 of Lien Writer Defaults the program will print the Fund Trapping Letter (see above) with the preliminary notice and will print the Notice of Filing Lien Affidavit from Derivative Claimant form alone with the Mechanic’s Lien claim. Otherwise, it will print a dual form for both when the Mechanic’s Lien is printed. Your choice;

Texas Notices - IMPORTANT - We cannot emphasize enough the importance of a particular understanding on Texas Notices, that you must send a new notice for every month you supply a Texas job!! This means you send a notice for the June work or supplies as I noted above. Fine. But, if the job continues into July you must send a notice for the July work. And for August. And for September, etc. So long as you work on the job. This does not preclude you from sending a single Mechanic’s Lien, if it comes to that, but be certain you have noticed on all Texas work for all Texas jobs, even if you just send one Mechanic’s Lien for them all.

Pettit Form Preliminary Notices – Several major form changes were made to this section to comply with various state laws.

9.2.8.2 - Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Update to Lien Writer® Single User – Changes made to make Lien Writer(®) Single User automatically look up base companies again.

9.2.8.1 - Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Joint Check Agreement – Added back ability for Joint Check system.

9.2.8.0 - Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Texas Unconditional Progress Release – This release was modified to add a through date entry. There was too much of a threat that the reference to the release date of the waiver rather than a through date was making the release too untenable as a release date could some time past the customer’s actual through date, making arguments that the release date even included new invoices!

Texas Lien Warning Notice – The Funds Trapping Letter was added to all parties for the Texas Lien Warning Notice.

9.2.7.9 - Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Other Legal Parties – A fix was added for the printing of Additional Legal Parties, specifically Other Lenders.

9.2.7.8 - Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Pettit Laser Forms, California – This update adds relationships to the printing of the California Preliminary Notice when using the Pettit Laser Forms.

Texas Waivers – Adds a Notary Signature to the Texas Lien Waiver and Release forms, now required.

9.2.7.7 - Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Pettit Laser Forms, California – This update fixes a problem with the printing of the California Preliminary Notice when using the Pettit Laser Forms.

9.2.7.6 - Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Release Printer Added – For more than 21 years Lien Writer® has had four option printers – Reports, Pettit Dot Matrix, Notices and Labels. We have added a fifth printer, for Waivers and Releases. This is because printers are cheap nowadays, and some clients like to use letterhead with their releases. With this fifth Waiver and Release printer, you can have a printer stocked with letterhead and print the Waivers and Releases at will:

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9.2.7.5 - Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Correction to California Pettit Laser Forms – With some printers we found that the word “labor” was being dropped in Pettit Laser forms due to printer text restrictions (not our own printers, obviously). This has been corrected by compressing the text a bit more.

9.2.7.4 - MAJOR RELEASE – Major Upgrade – Must download new program and install

Correction to California Releases – Adds back ability to California Releases for multiple payees.

9.2.7.3 - Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

LIEN WRITER PRO ONLY:

New Sort Options for AR Detail Entry/Update and Mass Matrix Detail Entry/Update – Users have asked for more index options in theses screens, and they have been added. Whatever index you select is how the Top, Previous, Next, Bottom and Locate buttons will work. Setting a Filter does not affect the indexing, just the range of the index. The Print Summary reports also follow the new indexes:

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Changes to the Mass Billing – This has been modified to handle Company Rate settings for the billing.

ALL LIEN WRITER PROGRAMS:

Joint Check Agreement – New options have been added to change The check amount will be for: text to Estimated Price of Job: and to optionally remove the specific contact information:

9.2.7.2 - MAJOR RELEASE – Major Upgrade – Must download new program and install

California Forms Have Changes – IMPORTANT. More additional changes were made to the California Mechanic’s Lien section. More statutory code section corrections.

9.2.7.1 - MAJOR RELEASE – Major Upgrade – Must download new program and install

California Forms Have Changes – IMPORTANT. Additional changes were made to the California Mechanic’s Lien section. Some of the statutory code sections quoted in the forms changed, too.

9.2.7.0 - MAJOR RELEASE – Major Upgrade – Must download new program and install

All California Forms Have Changes – IMPORTANT. Changes to these forms are noted below. Also, please note that General Contractors (now called Direct Contractors in California) are also required to send a preliminary notice to the Owner(s) if there is a project Lender. If you ever work in the capacity of a General Contractor, know that you must send a preliminary notice to your clients. It is no longer optional.

California Preliminary Notice – This is the first change in the California Preliminary Notice since 2005. In a practical sense the changes were minor and textual. The program will start using the changed forms, automatically, plain paper or Pettit Forms, on July 1st, 2012. You do not have to do anything, but use the program. However, be sure to read the California Relationship to Parties Requirement, below.

California Lien Waiver and Releases – This is the first change of the four California Lien Waiver and Release forms since we started publishing our software in 1990. The forms are quite different in structure and are now statutory. They must be used as is. The former modifications allowed to forms will no longer work (although they will for other states). The former California law required substantial compliance with the state requirements, i.e. if the minimum textual requirements were included the State did not care whatever other text you included. This is no longer true.

This does have one advantage. Your customers should no longer be demanding use of their own forms for waivers and releases. Since the forms are now statutory our forms should be their forms. If their forms are not the same as ours, they are not statutory and technically illegal. No more arguments on this.

These forms will become automatically active on July 1st, 2012.

California Relationship to Parties Requirement – This field is a new requirement under California law. For any preliminary notice that is released, you must identify yourself as to your relationship to the owner. The basic codes are Direct Contractor (for a General Contractor), Subcontractor, Material Supplier (Materialman), Equipment Supplier, and Professional Svs. You have the option to override these categories, if you must. These will be automatically added depending on the Company Setup. We see this as a trend for other states, too.

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Zillow.com – Another free property lookup site has been added to the Current Jobs and History screens called Zillow.com. This site is intended as an adjunct to our Site View button in that it, too, gives a view of the site, only for the Project address (Site View can show both site and directions for Projects, Owners, General Contractors, Lenders and Sureties and Customers), but it includes both property value and estimated property payments.

Texas Preliminary Notice with Sworn Statement – An option has been added to the Texas prelien notices to print an attached Sworn Statement. Normally, the Texas Sworn Statement is printed with the Texas Lien Claim, but with the recent law changes some Texas attorneys are encouraging the use of the Sworn Statement with the prelien notice. We recommend that you check with your own attorney for advice on this. It is an optional decision to use the Sworn Statement. Set it up on Page 11 of Lien Writer Defaults.

Texas Preliminary Notice with Funds Trapping Letter – An option has been added to the Texas prelien notices to print an attached Funds Trapping Letter. Normally, the Texas Funds Trapping Letter is printed with the Texas Lien Claim, but with the recent law changes some Texas attorneys are encouraging the use of the Funds Trapping Letter with the prelien notice. It is an optional decision to use the Funds Trapping Letter. Set it up on Page 11 of Lien Writer Defaults:

Voucher # - A voucher field for a project has been added. Some clients use it to identify a payment code that needs to be used. It has been added to the Lien Waivers and Releases, if used:

Project State – Too many users are neglecting to have the right state, province or territory in the Project area for Lien Writer® to work correctly. This has been become more of an issue as the program, more and more, has to convert screens for compliance with various state codes. So we have put the Project State field right up front under the Company information to make sure it is entered. This is important to choose the correct Relationship to Parties, also.

Improved Tracker Usage – There has been an option on the Tracker screen for years to select a record and go to the Current Jobs screen. A similar option has been added to the Current Job screen to go to the Tracker screen. This will allow you to have the two screens opened full screen but still be able to go back and forth between them. If either of the respective screens are not open, the program will now automatically open them:

Option to Rebuild Database - One irritating problem with computer upgrades is when your computer dies. But, fortunately you have kept your database on a backed up server. However, when you setup the new computer and connected to the server database, you may find it is out of sync with the current database, which has new fields and is forced to remove the fields (unbind objects) to complete the connection.. We have added a utility option, when this occurs, to update the server database.

Setup the connection to the server via the System Defaults option of the Setup Main Menu option. Enter the path Network Data Path on Page 8 of System Defaults:

Then, go to the Force Database Rebuild option in the Setup / File Maintenance Main Menu option:

Now, agree to do the upgrade, and confirm it:

The program will close. On restart, the program, now connected to the server database and in upgrade mode, will update the server database. But sure you are the only user in the system!

9.2.6.6 - Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Upgrades to Utilities – A number of the utility programs were updated for improved operations.

9.2.6.5 - Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Mail Proof of Service for Pettit Laser Forms – Some time back in the interests of speed we added an option to remove signature lines from Pettit Laser forms, and at the same time, if that option was selected, removed the Proof of Service by Mail declaration. After all, proof of service by mail for certified pieces is taken care of by the Postal Service. Well, we have had some clients who, even if the signature line is not printed, want the Proof of Service by Mail, with its signature line, printed. So, this option has been added back in. On Page 3 of Lien Writer Defaults, just check the Print Mail Proof of Service Affidavit and it will be restored:

9.2.6.4 - Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Alt-F6 Availability Improved – Can setup at program boot.

9.2.6.3 - MAJOR RELEASE – Major Upgrade – Must upgrade

Terminal Server Installs – Added enhancement to remember last record accessed by user;

Company Indexes – Improvements to index order display and printing by Company Code. All codes are set as right justified.;

Print and Sort Menus – Improvement for menu display on any resolution screen.

9.2.6.2 - MAJOR RELEASE – Major Upgrade – Must upgrade

Changes for Windows 2000 Systems – Allows logins.

Oregon Recorder Cover Letter – For compliance with the new 2012 Oregon filing requirements, the Oregon Record Cover Letter has been modified with the new required text.

9.2.6.1 - Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Automatic Version Warnings – An update was added for version warnings within the Lien Programs®.

9.2.6.0

MAJOR RELEASE – Major Upgrade – Must upgrade

Texas Lien Waiver and Release Forms – On January 1st, 2012, Texas now requires statutory Lien Waiver and Release forms. All four Texas forms, including the Conditional Progress, Unconditional Progress, Conditional Final and Unconditional Final, have been modified to comply with Texas law. One thing you will note as a difference is you cannot use the Special Text, Modification and other features that make changes to the Waiver forms. These changes are not allowed in these statutory documents. On the other hand, the new waiver have much better and protective language for the claimants;

USA Native American Land – A new checkbox has been added in the Project tab for projects that are on Native American Land. The checkboxes, presently, do nothing on the printing of documents, but the designation for the project is important to remember because claims against Native American land are governed by tribal law rather than State or Federal law;

Various and Sundry Upgrades and Enhancements – If you asked for it, or reported it, it has been added, improved or enhanced. The next major upgrade will be the California Preliminary Notices and Lien Waiver and Release forms, scheduled by law to be implemented July 1st, 2012.

9.2.4.8 - Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Automatic Server Warnings – An update was added for server warnings within the Lien Programs®.

9.2.4.7 - Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Walz Forms – An update was added to make the program compatible with the revised Walz Forms.

9.2.4.6 - Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Registration Backup – A feature has been added to allow back registration in the event you are disconnected from the Internet.

9.2.4.5

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Texas Verification of Legal Parties – This form, covering section 53.159(c) of the Texas Property Code, has been modified.

9.2.4.4

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Clearing Registration Slots – This is an addition that will make your network person happy. All Lien Writer® users are assigned a “secret” registration code, which you should save, and, especially, give to your network administrator. Lien Writer®’s registration works on a concept of usable licenses. The program allows as many users into the system as you have licenses available. This helps us prevent software privacy and keep costs down. However, in the past users had to call our office to move registration to another computer, or clear registration with a new computer places an old computer. A nuisance, especially if your network admin is working on the weekend!

No more. With the 9244 version you a user can clear the registration of one computer and open it for use by another computer, all automatically over the Internet. It works like this: When you open Lien Writer® on any computer it checks to see if license slots are available or the computer is already licensed. If already registered, you just go in. If not registered, but there are licenses available, the program registers the computer, using up a license, and the user goes in.

In the case you install Lien Writer® on a computer and there are no licenses available for the user’s computer the program will warn you. You can at this point either close the program and call us to buy more licenses by pressing ‘No’, or press ‘Yes’ to clear a license:

The program will then list your licenses. Choose the one you wish to replace, press ‘Setup’ and the program will register the user’s computer and bump the other user off the license table. ‘Quit’ will exit the program:

By the way, computers that are removed cannot be re-added to the license list by you without calling our office.

9.2.4.3

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements, Upgrade Suggested

Lessees and Property Owners – A change requested by a user prompted an investigation that turned into research project and a fairly major upgrade. It has to do with Lessees and property owners.

At all times the owner of the property is the main party who must be notified of any potential lien on the property, but there is also an inherent duty to notify the property renter or lessee in the event the lessee is the contractee of the job, the party who ordered the contractor to make improvements. This behooves the lien claimant to make sure that both parties are notified of their contracts with the general contractor or subcontractors of the general. The programs have been upgrade to consider this situation:

In the event you are contacting with the lessee, enter the lessee’s name in the primary owner tab, and check the Lessee checkbox to identify the Owner / Contractee as a lessee of the property. Then, press the Other Legal Parties button to add any additional lessees (check the Lessee checkbox in Owner) and the true owner or owners of the property. Send your notices / lien warnings / or mechanic’s liens to all parties:

Florida Jobs with Lessees – If you are dealing with FL claims with a lessee, under the Project tab check the Lessee Warning checkbox if the primary contractee of the job is a lessee of the property in question. A lessee of the property should always be the primary owner if they are the contractee. If the contractee is the owner, do not check this box. This checkbox will not appear unless the State field under Project is set to FL:

When checked in FL claims, the preliminary notice, both Pettit and plain paper forms will print a notice to the owner stating their responsibility under FL law to prove that their rental contact excludes them from liability for lessee property improvements by mailing you a copy of the rental or lease agreement with the specific exclusion. Failure to send you proof of the exclusion within 30 days of notice, or the forging of false documents, can make the owner(s) liable for property improvements no matter what their contract says.

Be sure to go to the Owner tab and enter the lessee information, and check the Lessee checkbox. Then, go to Other Legal Parties and enter the property owner's name, but do not check the Lessee checkbox. If there are other lessees, use Other Legal Parties to enter their names and check the Lessee box.

9.2.4.2

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Added IP Address and Port Entry/Edit Screen

9.2.4.1

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Added IP Address and Port Entry/Edit Screen

9.2.4.0

MAJOR RELEASE – Major Upgrade – Must upgrade

Automatic Registration – All of our programs now register via the Internet. The next time you register the program it will automatic ask for a new security code from us. Call (916) 941-9961, get your code (which you use for all your computers or terminal servicers) and from now on when you load your Lien Writer® program, so long as you have a paid licensing agreement, the program will allow you in. No more registration codes! If you upgrade your program, no need to call, either- the program updates then, too, automatically! And, if you need to setup a new computer, just call our office and we will remove the old computer registration, then when you log again on the new computer just enter your security code and the new computer is automatically registered! You can still register only as many computers for which have purchased licenses;

Use Lender Tab for Other Customer – Occasionally you have jobs where you have to have additional legal parties, and the program can handle this, but it does add another page to your prelien. And, for many private jobs a Lender or Surety is not specified. Now, if the Lender or Surety is blank, and you have only one additional legal party, you can now change the Lender type entry to any other legal party type. Just check the appropriate radio button in the Lender tab, and your preliminary notice or lien warning notice will print with this information instead of Lender information:

Massachusetts Form Changes – All of the Massachusetts forms have been changed and the legal requirements modified to conform with the recent law changes. Please read the help file on Massachusetts, all private works entries;

Florida Form Changes – The Florida private job preliminary notice has been changed to comply with the recent law changes. There is no change in the help file on his, but the private claim form itself has changed.

9.2.3.1

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

9.2.3.0

MAJOR RELEASE – Major Upgrade – Must upgrade

South Carolina Preliminary Notices – Important upgrades to comply with recent South Carolina law changes. These changes are effective immediately.

Texas Preliminary Notice and Lien Law Changes – There are too many changes here to describe, so it is important you go to the Main Menu Help selection, click on Help File, then in the Help file to your left click on Individual States, Provinces and Territories, then click on USA, and read the sections on South Carolina Notice of Furnishing, Private Works and Preliminary Notice, Public Works, and also the revise sections on retainage in the Texas sections Preliminary Notice, Private Works; Preliminary Notice, Public Works; Affidavit Claiming Lien, Private Works; and Bond or Lien Claim, Public Works. The gist of the matter is that how retainage notices and claims have changed in the State of Texas. These changes are effective September 1st, 2011.

Please go to the Main Menu selection Setup, then select Defaults for Lien Writer, then on the Program Setup Defaults screen select Page 11, then change the field For TX Mass Print use: from Retainage to Balance Due or Special Fab. (only if you do Special Fabrication).

9.2.2.9

Internal Release – Not Generally Released

9.2.2.8

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements for 64-Bit computers

9.2.2.7

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

9.2.2.6

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Federal Pre-Lien Notice – The titles were changed to remove any reference to ‘lien’. One does not ‘lien’ federal projects;

AZ Long Forms – The public long form received some format corrections.

9.2.2.5

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Pettit Printer Re-selects Default Windows Printer – A minor problem was causing the Pettit forms printer to re-select itself as the Windows Default Printer. This has been fixed;

Alabama Private Mechanic’s Lien Form – This form has been revised to include the notary form within the body of the mechanic’s lien to save a page. Alabama is now changing $25.00 per additional page on forms filing;

Jobs Data – A problem was causing the second name of the owner to overwrite the first. This has been fixed.

9.2.2.4

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

9.2.2.3

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

CA Private Notice on Public Jobs – At the request of one of our long time clients we have added an option to print the Private Notice to Owner on Public works. Our attorney okayed this on two facts. 1) there is no actual notice to owner (or public entity) required on CA public works, ergo the addition does not effect public notices one why or another. 2) He agreed with our client that if you accidently send a public notice on a private work without the Notice to Owner language you may well indeed lose your lien rights on the private property. If you would prefer to use this option, go to page 11 of Lien Writer® defaults and check the Use Private Notice for All CA Jobs:

9.2.2.2

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Compliance Changes to California PUBLIC Stop Notice RELEASE

9.2.2.1

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Fix for Mass Printing with Universal Certified Numbers

9.2.2.0

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Corrections to OK Public Form – Changes for compliance with public notice laws.

9.2.1.9

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Corrections to OH Prelim Form – Corrections to the declared Start Date, only on Pettit Forms, and only during MASS printing, and only last record.

9.2.1.8

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Electronic Certified Transmission – There have been additions to our Electronic Certified Transmission (ECT) system. You can now use a specific transmission file instead of having files randomly generated, required in some systems. For an overview see the HELP file section under Printing / Processing Document / Electronic Certified Transmission. For more information on obtaining the software upgrade and Manufacturers of the equipment contact us at (916) 941-9961.

9.2.1.7

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Owner Letters with Pettit Forms – Fixes minor problem that occurred on some systems.

9.2.1.6

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Owner Letters with Pettit Forms – Many users LOVE the Pettit 8.5” x 14” Laser forms, but the very nature of the form makes it impossible to use Owner Cover Letters with the forms. Until now. There is a new option to print the Owner Letters as a separate run after the Pettit Forms themselves are printed. Under the PRINT button you will find this option:

And in the Notices and Mail Main Menu option for mass printing you will find this option:

The Owner Letters, if printed, fold easily in the heavy Pettit form paper. If Owner Letters are used, the Pettit forms automatically reference them:

To properly use Type 60 Laser Pettit forms with the Owner Letters, change your settings in System Defaults as follows:

Page 3:

Page 11:

These settings will allow the printing of the Pettit Type 60 forms, then printing of the Owner Letters, if any, in the same order as the forms, then post the forms as printed. You then simply match the forms with the letters, fold as normal and mail.

Washington Mechanic’s Lien – The Washington State Private Job Mechanic’s lien has been modified to comply with new positioning requires for the form return address.

9.2.1.5

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Ohio Public Preliminary Notice – Minor changes to this form for new compliance rules.

9.2.1.4

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Alabama Lien Warning and Mechanic’s Lien – Minor changes to these forms.

9.2.1.3

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Additions for i-Lien Releaser Pro – Additions for this option.

9.2.1.2

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Other Liening Parties Waiver and Release – Improvements were made to the selection and printing of multiple releases for this sub-system. Particularly, when you are printing a single release from the Other Liening Parties screen:

9.2.1.1

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

DC Form Changes – There were minor compliance changes to the District of Columbia forms.

9.2.1.0

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Mechanic’s Lien Law Changes – NJ – As of January 5th, 2011, New Jersey has had major changes to its Mechanic’s Lien laws. Please see the HELP file on the new requirements for the forms New Jersey Notice of Unpaid Balance and Right to File Lien, Private Work; New Jersey Bond or Lien Claim, Private Work; New Jersey Amendment to Lien Claim, Private Work; and New Jersey Bond or Lien Claim Release, Private Work.

AZ 20 Day PUBLIC Preliminary Notice – Changes have been made to the Arizona 20 Public Preliminary Notice to comply with some court decisions. The prior form was, we feel, legally sufficient for public jobs, but the additions help forestall any legal challenges.

Electronic Certified Transmission – This is a new add-on module to allow you to submit your certified number list directly to the US Postal Service. This eliminates the need for the Certified Green Card while saving you $1.67 a mailing! Lien Writer® creates an interface to those Postage Meters and Mail systems approved by the US Postal Service for this submission. For an overview see the HELP file section under Printing / Processing Document / Electronic Certified Transmission. For more information on obtaining the software upgrade and Manufacturers of the equipment contact us at (916) 941-9961.

Alt. Marked – For years users have checked the Marked field to set up batch processes, including the printing of labels. However, Marked prints all labels for a particular job, including all of the legal parties- Owners, General Contractors, Lenders / Sureties and the Customer. But, what if you just want labels for any one set of those parties?

The Alt. Marked field is the answer. First, it does not interfere with any Marked records you may have set up. It runs its own batches. Second, you can control which of the legal parties you choose to print. To use the Alt. Marked field to create labels to send release copies only to the customer, all you have do is check the Alt. Marked field:

Then in the Main Menu Notices and Mail choose the Alternative Mailing Labels option:

The program will ask to confirm, then give you the setup screen for printing. As with Marked records, you choose the type of label and last label used if you are reusing an old sheet. You can also specify how many Labels Per Letter you want to print (single vs. multiple for certified mailing), and which of the legal parties you wish to receive labels. This saves all that time hand addressing. Press Print to start the printing process:

And then print your labels. After printing, clear the alternative marked records.

Like with printing Marked labels, the program will respect all record filters that have been set up.

Clear / Mark Alt. Marked Records / Clear / Check Print Checkboxes – New routines have been added to the Edit Menu to clear and mark the alt-marked record field, and to check the Print Customer, Print Owner, Print General Contractor and Print Lender/Surety checkboxes:

9.2.0.5

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Preliminary Notice Changes – OR

9.2.0.4

MAJOR RELEASE – Major Upgrade – Must upgrade

Lien Waivers and Releases – A minor problem crept into the waiver process due to the fix in warning notices. This has been corrected, too.

9.2.0.3

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Lien Warning Notices – A minor problem prevented the mark to print later function from working when printing individual Lien Warning Notices. This has been fixed.

9.2.0.2

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Help File Corrections – AL, CA

9.2.0.1

MAJOR RELEASE – Major Upgrade – Must upgrade

Form Corrections

9.2.0.0

MAJOR RELEASE – Major Upgrade – Must upgrade

STATE CHANGES – Forms or instructions have been modified for the following states, providences or territories: AK, AR, CA, MO, MS, NV, NY, PA, TX.

MECHANIC’S LIEN FORMS FOR CALIFORNIA HAVE CHANGED! – The Mechanic’s Lien Forms for Private jobs in California have changed, with additional declarations and mail affidavits added. PLEASE READ THE HELP FILE ON REGARDING THESE CHANGES! The program will automatically start using the new forms as of January 1st, 2011. Further form changes in the Preliminary Notice and the Waiver and Release forms are scheduled for July 1st, 2012.

9.1.7.6

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Various Form Tweaks – A number of forms have had minor upgrades to comply with law changes, customer complaints or cosmetic purposes.

Password Change for Defaults File – The Password functions for the Defaults file have been changed to display ****** s instead of the text of the password.

Gray Out Company Add / Delete – A Gray Out Company Add / Delete option has been added to the Security, Info, Waivers & Warnings (1) tab of the Program Setup Defaults. This option, if you do not check the Gray Out Company Setup, will allow you to gray out the Company Add and Delete buttons and Mass Change Company Code options in the Setup menu. The default is unchecked.

Labels for Reference File, Exclusions – To control the size of your Reference List printing, we have added Exclusions to restrict printing. For example, Is Customer? Is checked, no Reference record with Is Customer? Checked will be printed:

9.1.7.5

Internal Release – Not Generally Released

9.1.7.4

Internal Release – Not Generally Released

9.1.7.3

MAJOR RELEASE – Major Upgrade – Should upgrade

Certified Numbers for Other Liening Parties – To help with tracking, Prelminary Notices Certified numbers have been added to the Other Liening Parties screens:

9.1.7.2-Lien Writer Pro Only

MAJOR RELEASE – Must Upgrade

Gray Out Company Setup – A new Gray Out Accounting function has been added for large offices who want to restrict user access to the Accounting area. To set it up, check the field in Lien Writer® Defaults:

Which will “gray out” the Accounting record access;

9.1.7.2

MAJOR RELEASE – Major Upgrade – Should upgrade

Gray Out Company Setup – A new Gray Out Company Setup function has been added for large offices who want to restrict user access to the Company table. To set it up, check the field in Lien Writer® Defaults:

Which will “gray out” the Company record access and Mass changes.

Mississippi Notice of Construction Lien – This form has been upgraded to comply with new margin requirements by the State for Mississippi for all filed documents.

Check Send Certified Field in Current Jobs – This feature has been added mainly for newbies that forget to check these fields:

But the better way is to sent this up in Lien Writer® Defaults in the first place:

9.1.7.1

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Lien Warning Notice - A problem would make the printing of this form hang up. It has been fixed.

9.1.7.0-Lien Writer Pro Only

MAJOR RELEASE – Must Upgrade

Region Field Added – At the request of one of our customers, a REGION filed has been added for billing. The program already breaks out billing according to a master Bill to and Company Code, but, for those clients that request it, you will be able to break out by Bill To, Region and Company Code!

You have to set up any Company that needs to use REGION with data in the REGION field, even if it is the main office. Call it MAIN if naught else, it must have a region:

By the way, I noticed that lookup using Bill To is a pain. I added it as both a LIST and a LOCATE option:

So, when added records either automatically or manually the REGION will now be part of the SEARCH criteria:

But, when printing invoices, I have to contend with companies that do NOT use REGIONS. I solved this by adding a new Billing invoice. One will work with EMPTY(REGION) and the other WITH NOT EMPTY(REGION). This why it is important that any company set requiring REGION have ALL the companies set with a REGION. All, or NOTHING!! In printing, you just use the Print Invoices as normal:

And the EMPTY(REGION) Invoices will print first:

And then the NOT EMPTY(REGION) invoices. All logos will work with it:

And, yes, the regions do sub-total, too.

9.1.7.0

MAJOR RELEASE – Major Upgrade – Should upgrade

Oklahoma Upgrade – The preliminary notices in this state have been upgraded to include the amount due on claims over $2500.00.

Old Import – This import has been upgraded to fix a problem for the Send Notice fields.

9.1.6.9

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

9.1.6.8

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

9.1.6.7

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Collection Agency / Collection Attorney – This function needed some updating. Using a Collection Agency or Collection Attorney (your choice, but I think the agencies are more aggressive) should be part of any business strategy on uncollected account. Part of the hassle in assigning for collection is all that data the collector needs to do his job. Since you have entered most of it in Lien Writer® already, all you really need is an assignment form! On page 4 of Lien Writer® Defaults you can set up information on your collection assignee:

Then from the Current Jobs PRINT menu choose the Quick Collection Assignment to print out an assignment form:

Mail or fax the form to your assignee, and they are one the job:

Look, I know that assigning accounts for collection is gut wrenching, as well as costing fees, and a feeling of failure on your part, but the accounts do not get any more collectable delaying the inevitable. Many firms can also take care of perfecting your Mechanic’s Liens. We have a number of recommended firms mentioned in the Help file under Tips and Hints / Perfecting Lien Claims.

9.1.6.6

MAJOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

Pettit Form Mass Printing Problem – A problem was found that prevented the correct printing of amounts on Mass Printing of Pettit forms (single printing worked fine). This has been fixed.

WA Private Mechanic’s Lien – A recent court case, Williams v. Athletic Field, Inc., 228 P.3d 1297, -- Wn. App – (2010), the Washington Court of Appeals has ruled that in order for a Claim of Lien (mechanic’s) to be valid, it must contain a proper notarized acknowledgement as required under the law as to whether the claimant is an individual or corporation. Depending on whether your company is an individual or corporation, remember to use choose the proper Capacity of Signer when preparing the notary form:

Program Timeout – In many modern computer systems there are backup system that require that users be logged out their computer programs for the backup to work. So, what if you or one of your users forgets to log off? On page 8 of Lien Writer® Defaults there is now a field Timeout in [0-9999] Minutes. Enter the number of minutes you want the program to shut down in the event that no user activity has occurred. This is most often used where you have a database located on a server with a backup system and want the program to close out normally in the evening if you forget to close the program yourself. And, remember that when re-start the program will remember the last Current Job you were working on. The default is 0, or never close out automatically:

Local and Universal Certified Number Sets – A problem for some of our Mass Printing customer with multiple users that each user has had his own certified number set since those numbers were setup in Lien Writer® Defaults, where most of the fields are local to the user, not universal like the Current Job or History records. A new option has been added here users can elect to use a Certified Number Set that is common to all of them rather than a set that belongs to each user. The advantage? For Mass Printing forms like Pettit Forms all users can set up one printer for the forms, and any printing will use a common number set, so instead of the common designation of one user to do the printing, any user can print with the same set. To choose this option, on page 3 of Lien Writer® Defaults select Universal Certified (Local Certified is the default for the system, and works like Lien Writer® has for years) and fill in the fields under Universal Certified Number Setup just as you always have under the default Local Certified Number Setup. REMEMBER: When you choose the Universal setup over the Local setup you are now sharing numbers. Mass printing should still be a single user operation to prevent printing problems:

Always Use Amount for Unconditional Progress Waiver – Normally, except where required by statute, an Unconditional Progress Payment Waiver prints “paid in full” instead of the payment amount if the payment exceeds the balance due on the account. Checking this box will make the waiver report the payment amount regardless of the balance due.

The Always Use Amount for Unconditional Waiver is also available for a temporary change in the Waiver Options screen just before printing your release:

AZ Public Preliminary Notice – Recent changes to the AZ public notice made the form print incorrectly on some printers. This has been fixed.

9.1.6.5

MINOR RELEASE – Upgrade and Minor Enhancements

F3 Keystroke – This option is supposed to move a Current Jobs record to History or a History record to Current Jobs. A problem crept into the upgrade and F3 was not working correctly. This was been fixed;

Table Viewer – The Table Viewer has been upgraded to allow users to see and correct deleted records so long as the re-index and pack maintenance routines have not been run. We added this as a “last resort” recovery of records that were accidently deleted in History (deletions in Current Jobs always go to History first). To undelete a History record, from the Main Menu select File Maintenance, then Table Viewer:

Then either select the History table or double click on the History selection:

Any record that is “deleted” (records are not actually removed until you re-index and pack, just invisible to the user) can be made visible by merely unchecking the deletion flag:

Public Lien Release and Public Stop Notice Release – A number of non-critical changes were made to these forms.

9.1.6.4

MINOR RELEASE – Enhancements on Hand Entering Certified Numbers

9.1.6.3

MINOR RELEASE – Enhancements on Plain Paper Preliminary Notices

9.1.6.2

MINOR RELEASE – Enhancements

9.1.6.1-Lien Writer Pro Only

MAJOR RELEASE – Must Upgrade

Additions to FTP/HTTP Internet Import – The Import file structure has some modifications that do not affect current usage but offer more options. The following import file positions, which were not used before, now have the following options:

Field# Field Data T Ln Description

12) Owner Telephone Number C 14 This is the Telephone of the owner.

52)    Owner Contract Number          C    40   This is the Owner Contract Number.
53)    Customer E-Mail Address        C   170   This is your Customer’s e-mail address.
54)    General Contractor E-Mail Add. C   170   This is the General Contractor’s e-mail address.
55)    Owner E-Mail Address        C 170   This is the Owner’s e-mail address.
56)    Lender/Surety’s E-Mail Add.   C   170   This is the Lender or Surety’s e-mail address.
57)    Lender’s Telephone Number      C    14   This is the Lender or Surety’s e-mail address.

Position 64 is still not used, and will continue as a blank. See the entry PRO Import Operation Procedures and File Format in the Lien Writer Pro section of the Help File.
9.1.6.1

MAJOR RELEASE – Must Upgrade

MAJOR STATE FORM CHANGES, REVISIONS OR ADDITIONS - States, Provinces or Federal Provinces of AR, CA, CO, FL, GA, IL, NC, ND, OH, PA, TN, TX, UT, WA, and FEDERAL forms.

California Design Professional Lien - While architects, engineers and other design professionals are certainly entitled to pursue a mechanics’ lien at the end of a construction project when they are unpaid for their work, unless they also consider the remedy available to them under the California design professional lien, they may be missing an important opportunity to preserve their right to payment.

The California design professional lien is generally available to any certified architect, registered professional engineer or licensed land surveyor who furnishes services under a written contract with a landowner for the design, engineering or planning of a work of improvement, other than a single-family, owner-occupied residence with construction costs of less than $100,000 in value. These rules are generally found in California Civil Code sections 3081 – 3081.10. This remedy is only for these type of services.

Why use this form instead of the regular Mechanic’s Lien process? If you are design professional who has performed professional services, but the property itself if never improved, you still have a route to making a claim on the property.

More details are found in the Help file, California, California Lien Warning Notice and California Design Professional’s Lien.

Alternate PA Private Preliminary Notice – We have had customers who wanted to use the default program form for preliminary notices to New York owners instead of the Preliminary Notice of Intention to Lien. To change to that form, plain paper or Pettit forms, check the Use Default Preliminary Notice for PA field on Page 11 of Lien Writer Defaults:

Exhibits Only for Pettit Long Forms – Many users LOVE the Pettit 8.5” x 14” Laser forms, but the very nature of the form makes it impossible to use Exhibits A – D. Until now. There is a new option to print the Exhibits as a separate run after the Pettit Forms themselves are printed. Under the PRINT button you will find this option:

For Mass Printing, use the option in Notices and Mail:

The Exhibits, if printed, fold easily in the heavy Pettit form paper.If Exhibits are used, the Pettit forms automatically reference them:

To properly use Type 60 Laser Pettit forms with the Exhibits, change your settings in System Defaults as follows:

Page 3:

Page 11:

These settings will allow the printing of the Pettit Type 60 forms, then printing of the Exhibits, if any, in the same order as the forms, then post the forms as printed. You then simply match the forms with the Exhibits, fold as normal and mail.

Citrix and Terminal Server Print Servers – We had a reported problem with problems after printing documents where the server did not have a default printer set up, or any printer for that matter. This has been fixed for any case or combination of servers;

California Forms – We have had a number of inquiries on the coming changes to California state forms. The new forms have been pushed off again to January 1st, 2012. We will be attending the hearing on the forms on December 21st, 2009, but in general the current form changes, while we personally consider of no real value to the consumer or contractor (mostly just a lot of talk, talk and more talk), are not so bad as to be intolerable. We will keep you advised as the final law develops.

Data Path in Title Bar – Current data path is now displayed in the main program bar next to the version number. This is handy if you which databases frequently, have frequent network shutdowns, or are installing new stations:

Zero Balance as Line – The Default File (Page 8) has been added as an option in the Lien Waiver and Release of Rights screen before you print your lien waivers:

Do Not Include Dispute Clause - Check this box if you do not want the dispute clause included in Unconditional Progress, Conditional on Final, and Unconditional Waivers, but you have the Zero Line option checked, which force prints the clause. This is not really recommended as you can lose rights to the disputed amount. The default is unchecked:

You can also select the Do Not Include Dispute Clause before printing Lien Waiver and Release of Rights forms:

Skip Printing Backside of Pettit Form – When printing with Pettit forms the normal procedure is to print one side, then the other. But, if you have the green card pre-printed with your return address, and your state is not using the back side of the form, you can check this box to override the printing of the second page. WARNING!! This will override the printing on the second page of any Pettit form. The default is unchecked:

When the Skip Printing Backside of Pettit Forms is checked, the old Flip the Forms Over!! Form will change to:

This new Post as Approved? Form. You must still press the ‘Yes’ button to post the form transactions.

Job or Inv. Number, Owner Contract Number, General Contractor Contract Number and Loan / Bond No. – The size of these fields has been increased from 16 to 40 characters to compile with extended account numbers and multiple invoices;

i-FaxCheck Interface – There have been a number of requests to have our i-FaxCheck program available from our various products, the idea being if you are doing collections, do the payment check now. This has been added to the Lien Program® button bar:

Many, many upgrades – There were a large number of upgrades in our system that are not externally viable, but most had to do with tweaks to make the system faster, especially with the new VISTA and coming Windows 7.0 systems. Of course, the real speed and efficiency increases will be in our coming C# language platform with SQL server system;

Mechanic’s Lien Forms – Formerly in a number of forms text was alternated between regular and bolded type for clarity for the client and recipients. However, a number of court jurisdictions now want no bolded type in court documents- some microfiche and scanning systems have trouble with the bolded type. If you no longer see familiar bolded text in a document (and yes, it did make for easier reading) this was the reason it has been removed;

States with Form Changes – The following states have had partial or full form changes: AR CA CO GA NC ND OH TN TX UT. Please destroy any notes you have printed off on these states, or forms, and use the new forms and Help notes;

Massachusetts Notice of Identification and Sworn Statement of Claim – In these documents you no longer use standard “short” property description for property descriptions found in many property information services. You are strongly urged to use a copy of the text from the legal description of the deed on file. Many property information services have this information, but expect to pay for it;

Print information Header on Release – This new Waiver and Release of Rights option prints a informational identification header on the top of your Waivers. It does NOT print on statutory forms like for Nevada and Georgia, and if you use it you cannot use letterhead paper for your Waivers:

Waiver and Release Left Margins – In the last upgrade the Waivers and Releases had an option for left margins added. However, it was supposed to work for any Waiver but the Illinois waivers, which are a statutory. However, it was not working correctly. The revised program lets you set a margin, then:

Then the left margin of the waiver will move accordingly:

Illinois Waiver and Release Form – This form has been greatly revised due to incompatibilities with some printers. The resolve is a more consistently printing form for both original and other liening parties in the claim;

Florida Preliminary Notice - The verification of signature in the preliminary notice has been removed. It is no longer needed;

New Other Liening Parties Reports – For those of you (usually General Contractors) who need to track prelien claimants against you or your contractors, a new set of reports have been added that summarize the claimants. To access the reports, press the Print button, and access the Other Liening Parties Summary:

Which will bring up the Other Liening Parties Summary Report screen. Choose the sort order of the report, and press Print Report:

Which will print the report. Press Close to end:

Searchsystems.net - For years we have had CourtRecords.com as the site for our Court Recs. on the button bar. This service has apparently be discontinued. We are now supporting Searchsystems.net as a superior alternative. This is a fee service, but they can get you most any record you want at a reasonable price. Go to http://www.searchsystems.net/ for more information:

More Certified Numbers Added – We have, at long last, added certified numbers for Lien Warning Notices (more on that below) and for Lien Claims. The Lien Warning Notices can be hand entered, or will auto-enter like Preliminary Notices if you have set things up that way (again, see below). The Lien Claim (public or private [mechanic’s liens]) must be hand entered. There are fields on the main screen for customers, owners, generals and lenders/sureties, and:

For owners, generals and lenders/sureties on Other Legal Parties, too:

Sheet Positioning for Avery Type Labels 5160 and 5163 – One problem with using sheet mailing labels was the problem with wasting the labels. You use a partial sheet some time, then you have to either re-stick other labels from other partially used sheet, or waste sheet. This new option in label print allows you to tell the program what was the last label position printed, and it will continue on the sheet from there, using it up and them moving to the next full sheet. No more wasted labels!

This setting will start printing at label number 3 on the sheet. You can set the label position from 0 (all labels) to 29 (one label) on the sheet:

Certified Numbers and Pettit Forms for Lien Warning Notices – The Lien Programs® now store the Certified Numbers for Lien Warning Notices and Lien Claims. The numbers for Lien Warning Notices are stored automatically when these documents are printed. Mechanic’s Liens must be hand entered:

Alt-F5 Key Combination – For use with odd screen resolutions. Press pressing this key combination will automatic size work screens to the monitor. Very handy if you have a odd screen resolution for your screen display.

New Sort Keys – New sort keys for Pre-Lien Date (Descending) and Entry Date (Descending) have been added. This allows you to start your searches for records from the newest records to oldest:

9.1.6.0

Internal Release – Not Generally Released

9.1.5.1

MINOR RELEASE – Various Items

Outlook Calendar Interface – We have had a Calendar System in the Lien Programs® for years. But, it has limitations. First of all, you have to have your Lien Program® open for the calendar to be available. And you have to use it and keep it. And, if you do not remove the calendared items the list gets longer, and longer and longer…. An additional option was needed! Since most of our customers have Microsoft Outlook, and know how to use its calendar system, we decided to design an interface to Outlook that would take advantage of the features of Outlook. For example, the program has always had the Next Call Date and Next Action field available for our calendar. We have added a new button on the Dates & Dollars tab called Calendar in Outlook. If you press this button, the Set Outlook Appoin®ent screen appears:

The fields in the Set Outlook Appoin®ent, in order are:

Start Time for the event, AM or PM;

End Time for the event, AM or PM;

Next Call Date. If you make changes to this field it changes in the Next Call Date of the Lien screen;

Subject. If you make changes to this field it changes in the Next Action field of the Lien screen;

Notes for the event;

Location for the event;

Set Reminder to activate a reminder for the event at the start time;

Minutes Before Reminder. If the Set Reminder checkbox is checked, you may set how many minutes before the start time to activate the reminder.

And the item is added to the Outlook calendar with the project title:

Alternate NY Private Preliminary Notice – We have had customers who wanted to use the default program form for preliminary notices to New York owners instead of the Demand for Contract. To change to that form, plain paper or Pettit forms, check the Use Default Preliminary Notice for NY field on Page 11 of Lien Writer Defaults:

Pettit Forms Type 60 Correction – General Contractor title on the type 60 Pettit forms has been corrected to state General / Other Contractor. This is because the current program can have multiple contractors. This is keeping with the Owner / Reputed Owner and Lender / Surety titles we have used for years;

Copy From Project Button in Owner Tab – Some customers who often use the Copy From… buttons during data entry have pointed out that often much of the Owner info is the same as the Project info. A button has been added for this purpose:

Massachusetts Forms – Any form in Massachusetts that requires court filing has had a Notary Jurat added to it. They are now required.

9.1.5.0

MAJOR RELEASE – Must Upgrade

Many, many upgrades – There were a large number of upgrades in our system that are not externally viable, but most had to do with tweaks to make the system faster, especially with the new VISTA and coming Windows 7.0 systems. Of course, the real speed and efficiency increases will be in our coming C# language platform with SQL server system;

California and Nevada Mechanic’s Lien Forms – Once again, changes in the California and Nevada recorder office were making our forms occasionally go to two pages, and additional cost. Again, we found approved ways to shrink them back to one page for the time being; but it has been a constant battle;

Georgia Upgrade – This is a second revision of the new Georgia forms. Fortunately, some very inaccurate data is was out there on the design and requirements for the Georgia forms that went into effect on March 31st, 2009.. Ours are now complete in compliance, and the extensive instructions have been revised to allow proper use of the forms in all conditions to maximize your protect- there are a number of overlapping schemes and requirements. Also, do NOT be surprised at the size of the fonts on some of the Georgia forms- they are statutory. The whole thing is an example of what happens when politicians write laws as matters of political expediency, not logic;

22 Digit Certified Numbers – Again, changes have been made to have out program work with all instances of the new 22 Digit Certified Number;

New Drive GOTO Meeting Button – Those of you who have called for major computer problems this last year are probably aware of our new GOTO Meeting system for tech support and customer training. We recently added a new button bar option called TechSupp that allows you to log on to our directly with our support or training persons give you a access code. All to serve you better:

Copy from… Buttons – On the Owner, General and Lender/Surety screens you will now see one to three buttons that allow you to copy previous screens to the current screen for faster entry. This is particularly handy when the customer and general are the same person, but applies to any of the parties or screens:

9.1.4.9

MINOR RELEASE – Various Items

Amount Flag – The amount flag was delaying printing in some systems. This has been replaced.

9.1.4.8

MINOR RELEASE – Various Items

9.1.4.7

MINOR RELEASE – Various Items

Problem in 9.1.4.6 – Printing Preliminary Notices – A problem crept into the printing routines in the 9.1.4.6 version. The program in some cases was forcing a confirmation when printing certified mail documents, making the users have to click their mouse twice to print every document. We greatly regret this nuisance problem. This version fixes it;

Michigan Public Preliminary Notice - The Michigan Public Preliminary Notice had the title Initial Notice of Claim on Bond (Public Project). A number of users have reported that title appears to absolutely freak their customers and the owners. Checking into it we found there is not a statutory title for this notices (it was picked by our Michigan attorney years ago) and the law refers to the document as a notice of furnishing to the public entity, just like the notice of furnishing to the owner in the private project world. With that, we changed the name of this public preliminary notice to NOTICE OF FURNISHING (PUBLIC PROJECT);

Firm Mailing Log of Accountable Mail and 22 Digit Certified Numbers – In the 9.1.4.6 version we upgraded the ability of the program to use 22 Digit Certified Numbers. We did not, however, change the Firm Mailing Log of Accountable Mail to handle these numbers as it, supposedly, is not required because 22 Digit Certified Numbers are transmitted by the mail machine to the Post Office by telephone line. However, we have reported to us a court case in Washington State involving the use of the 22 Digit systems where the Post Office could not provide a copy of delivery or an attempt to deliver, and there was no other record of mailing, so the court found against the claimant, stating that they would have found in the claimant’s favor if he could have proved he had mailed it. The log has been fixed to handle 22 Digit Certified Numbers and if you use one of these systems we strongly urge you to print the Firm Mailing Log of Accountable Mail after your forms. Thanks to Glen Pettit of Pettit Manifold Forms (800-420-6767) for bringing this matter to our attention;

Improvements to Problem Screen – A common problem for clients is to have their networked based Lien Program® databases damaged by a power outage, resulting in a “Database Corrupted”, “Table Corrupted” or “Index Corrupted” problems. In these cases, the simple fix is to run the Recover Tables In… and the Re-Index, Repair and Pack the Database routines in the Maintenance section of the Setup Main Menu option. The problem is to get to this option you have to ‘ignore’ through a number of system problems to reach the Main Menu. No more. If you choose the Abort (instead of Ignore) option in an problem message box, the program will start the Problem E-Mail Report screen, where you will find both repair routines available. After you run them (Recover Tables In… routine first, then the Re-Index, Repair and Pack the Database routine), close the program, then restart it, and the problem should be solved. IMPORTANT: These routines must be run as single user operations Be sure to boot everyone out!

TechSupp Buttons - An additional option added to both the Toolbar and the Problem E-Mail Report screen is the TechSupp button, which is used to connect you on the Internet to our technical support website to allow us to access your computer directly. The current connection is to GotoMeeting.com but in the near future it will be to GotoAssist.com:

9.1.4.6

MINOR RELEASE – 22 Digit Certified Numbers

22 Digit Certified Number Processing - This section has been upgraded. The 22 digit number processing was not working correctly before - If you want to use one of the new electronic mailing systems from the Postage Meter companies that require a 22 digit Certified number the Lien Programs® can now handle them. Enter the information on page 3 of Lien Program® defaults. You use the Electronic Certification field only if you use 22 digit certified numbers, in which case the first two digits go in the Electronic Certification filed. Then, enter the next seven digits (or enter the first seven digits on a 20 digit number) in the Certified Prefix, then the next twelve digits in the Certified Starting Number, and so on:

Import/Export Records via Old Lien Writer Format – Somehow the H®L file for this section of the Help file got corrupted. It has been repaired and expanded.

9.1.4.5

MINOR RELEASE – Mass Moving Records to History

Mass Moving Records to History – The processing has been greatly improved in these Main Menu Edit / Mass Move Current Jobs to History options:

All now confirm with range of records and the number about to be purged:

This will make it a lot easier to determine you are doing the right thing!

9.1.4.4

MINOR RELEASE – California and Nevada Mechanic’s Liens

Further modifications of California and Nevada Mechanic’s Liens – In the 9.1.4.0 version we made modifications to the California and Nevada Mechanic’s Liens back on one page, despite all the various court and county requirements that have come up over the last year. We succeeded, but with a very minimum about of data entered. We have again compressed the forms even more, but are literally at our limits now. The next time the courts, counties or state legislatures modify the forms they are going to take two pages, no way to avoid it.

9.1.4.3

MINOR RELEASE – New Mexico Pettit Preliminary Notice

New Mexico Pettit Preliminary Notice – This form was slightly changed for compliance with the New Mexico requirements.

9.1.4.2

MINOR RELEASE – Backspace operation

Backspace Option – Long time users of Lien Writer® may remember the Great Backspace War in the mid-1990’s where I had a number of customers complaining that if you held down the Backspace key it would jump backwards field to field and wipe out fields until you wiped out all data on a page. So, I fixed the program so it would not do that. I was subsequently roundly cursed by even more customers who felt that was a handy feature of Lien Writer(®) and how dare I remove it. I put the feature back in, and told the former complainers to just use the Delete key or use the Backspace key one keypress at a time, for which I was also roundly cursed. Jeez, I was still hearing about it years later!

The request came up again recently with a new customer, and a friend at Microsoft gave me a solution. On Page 7 of Lien Writer® Defaults there is now a checkbox called Backspace does not leave field which, if checked, will allow you to remove field data back to the start of a field, but no further. Your choice;

9.1.4.1

MINOR RELEASE – Company Headings

Changes to Options for Return address on Document Headers – Lien Writer® has a number of options for printing the return address in the Return To Address Block (RTAB) on documents. We have expanded this further:

1) The Regular Return Address – By default, the RTAB uses the Company Address as set up in Company Information:

Which would result in a RTAB of:

The Typical Client

A Typical Corporation

500 Main Street

INGLEWOOD, CA 90303

2) However, some processors want all of the RTAB to return documents to them, and so on page 4 of Lien Writer® Defaults you can direct the program to use an alternate address (such as for a lien process service) to override the default company address by entering information in the Default Mailing Party / Service Bureau information. REMEMBER! Changing the RTAB does not change the address for the claimant in the document body, only the RTAB. The body will still report the correct claimant:

And then activating the override Use Page 4 Mailing Party Info for “Return To” Header on page 8 of Lien Writer® Defaults:

Which will result the following address for the RTAB:

Wonderful Processing Service

Attn: Processing

700 Main Street

Small Town, CA 99999

USA

3) A further option hs to do with cases where you want the name of the Company, but the address block of the Processor. This can be handy if you have county recorder offices that look no further than the RTAB for the company claimant (reported to be a problem in some Nevada counties). This can be done by checking the Always Use First Lien of Company Name on page 4 of Lien Writer Defaults. Also note the change to the second line of the Company Name:

Checking this box, based on our prior example, will print the following. The address line one of the Default Mailing Party is ignored and will result in the following address for the RTAB:

The Typical Client

c/o Wonder Processing

700 Main Street

Small Town, TN 99999

USA

9.1.4.0

MAJOR RELEASE – Must Upgrade

State Upgrades for Preliminary Notices - Lien Writer® now has a corresponding Pettit form for all States, Territories and Provinces. Specific upgrade now exist for OK, MN, OH, WI, MO, KS, PA, MI, CA, NV, TX, SD, AR, VA and SD;

Nevada Private Mechanic’s Lien and Discharge of Lien Forms – This forms have been revised so that the font should be 10 point Courier on anyone’s printer, and hopefully will end any complaints by the recorders offices or attempts by them to increase fees for ‘font’ violations. The Notice of Lien form has also repaired an irritating problem that could swap the balance due and payments made fields;

California Private Mechanic’s Lien Form – We were able to get the California private mechanic’s lien form down to one page again and . That took a great deal of effort to do this and comply with all of the new California requirements on margins, headers, etc. beside the local rules that some counties are adding. We seriously doubt we will be able to do this again, especially if Los Angeles county thinks up some more new things. Since the state has allowed the expansion of local rules, we fully expect the form will balloon to two pages again with the attendant costs;

Michigan Proof of Service of Notice of Furnishing – This form has been improved to automatically add the mailing party information instead of requiring the notary to fill it in;

Print Preliminary Notice no matter what – A new option has been added to page 8 of Lien Writer Defaults that allows you to override the program restrictions on 1) always warning the user when a form that is not required to printed. Instead forms will just print. This option is handy for 2) Pettit forms, which formerly will not print for states not requiring them. Checking the Print Preliminary or Lien Warning Notice, required or not will force the program to print generic Preliminary notices for Pettit forms in states, territories or provinces that do not require them:

Canadian and U.S Territories Preliminary Notices – Preliminary Notices have been added for all Canadian Provinces and Territories and the U.S. Territories. Mechanic’s Liens have not yet been added. There is still some research to finish on those forms, including telling you exactly where to file claims. See the Province or Territory code for mailing;

Canada:

AB – Alberta BC – British Columbia MB – Manitoba

NB – New Brunswick NL – Newfoundland and Labrador NS – Nova Scotia

NT – Northwest Territories NU – Numavut ON – Ontario

PE – Price Edward Island QC – Quebec SK – Saskatchewan

YT – Yukon

U.S. Territories:

AS – American Samoa PW - Palau

FM – Federated States fo Micronesia PR- Puerto Rico

GU – Guam UM – U.S. Minor Outlying Islands

MH – Marshall Islands VI – Virgin Islands of the U.S.

MP – North Mariana Islands

Pennsylvania Updates – A year ago we added the new Pennsylvania forms, but neglected to update the Pennsylvania Help documents. This has been corrected;

Invoice Report – The billing invoice for Lien Writer Pro® program has been improved with category breakdowns and descriptions, and the breaking of the base price and extended price costs;

APN # Upgrade – The Assessor Parcel Number field (APN) has been upgraded to accept up to 64 characters of data;

Record Data Reports – This reports have been greatly updated and reformatted. All telephone, fax, and e-mail numbers have been added;

Plain Paper Copies – Pettit Form users, especially Servicer Providers, have often asked for a Plain Paper Copy of the mailed Pettit form. This has been added, with the option to also print labels for mailing to your clients. Here are the options:

1) Simple Copy. This can be used after you have printed a Preliminary Notice from the Current Jobs Screen Print button. Print your form, then your copy on 8.5” x 11” paper:

2) Print as Mass Printing. This new option is in the Main Menu Notices and Mail. To properly use, turn off the Unmark Printed Pettit Forms on Page 3 of the Lien Writer Defaults Screen:

Also make sure the Mark to Print Later in the Printer Label Setup is unchecked. Then, on Page 11 of Lien Writer Defaults check the Mark to Print Later field. You are now ready to print plain paper copies in mass.

3) Next, print all of your Preliminary Notices, either individually or as a Mass Printing. The new default settings will preserve the Marked field in the Current Jobs file:

In the Main Menu Notices and Mail selection, choose the Plain Paper Preliminary Notice Copies option. The program, depending on your record selection setup, will print both plain paper notices and optionally mailing labels for the copies you need to mail notices other companies. After printing the notices you have a option to clear the record marks. Don’t use this option if you want to print mailing labels. After the mailing labels are printed you again are given the option to clear the record marks.

Company and Reference File Label Selection – Several customer have asked when printing either Reference file or Company file labels that they would like to be able to restrict the printing to a specific range. This has been added. In the Main Menu Reports and Labels selection, choose the either the Company File Labels or the Reference File Labels option:

You will then be presented with a selection screen for printing by a particular index and for a particular range. If you leave the range blank, all labels will print. Otherwise they will print by the range you specify for the index you specify:

Backup Directories – For years if you upgraded your program or deployed a database, a backup of the Lien Program® database was placed in the current directory as a precaution. However, we set the directory name as a random character string chosen by the computer, which resulted in some pretty strange names like _2F09EDD, _1DEACB, etc. No more. The program now automatically creates a name in the format of “D” + “Year” + “Month” + “Day” + “underscore character” + “Second of Day” (DYYYYMMDD_NNNNN). This will make identification of your last backup, if needed, much easier to do;

Updates to the Old Lien Writer Format Import – New options have been added for the Public Job field (#21) in the Old Lien Writer import format to have several other potential settings beside yes (‘Y’) and (‘N’). The default is false (‘N’), or checkbox unchecked, but if one of the following letters is used data input is affected in the following manner:

‘Y’ = Public Job is Checked;
‘N’ = Public Job is Unchecked;
‘F’ = Public Job is Checked, Federal Job is Checked (Federal job);
‘S’ = Public Job is Checked (State job);
‘P’ = Public Job is Unchecked, Residential Job is Checked (Private, Residential job);
‘C’ = Public Job is Unchecked, Residential Job is Unchecked (Commercial, Private job);

Print Preliminary or Lien Warning Notice, required or not – If this box is checked, the program will not stop if a Preliminary Notice or Lien Warning Notice is not required for a state. It does not stop other important notices or requirements. This is handy in mass printing operations where you are going to print a notice anyway, required or not. The default is unchecked:

Always Use First Line of Company Name – If this box is checked, the FIRST line of the Default Mailing Party Company Name will not print, but the first line of the Company table Company Name will. In other words, the Company name on Page 4 here is overwritten by the Company Name of the Company table. This is useful if you are having trouble when filing mechanic's liens in some jurisdictions and they are NOT reading the body of the text but are instead looking at the name in the "Record and Return to" header. If the Always Use First Line of Company Name field, below, if checked, all the Default mailing party info will be used EXCEPT the first line, which will still be the company name from the company database. However, you still must add the Company Name information on page 4 for the other information to substitute:

9.1.3.9

INTERNAL UPGRADE – Not Generally Released

9.1.3.8

MINOR RELEASE – Improved Database Syncing

How to Upgrade your Older Version of the Lien Programs® - The latest version of the Lien Programs® has some radical changes within. You, for the most part, will not see the change in the usage of the program, but because of these changes we you must make sure your databases stay in sync, than is; they are of the same version. Normally, the program will simply update your program and database files, preserving all your records. But, if you have a situation, say, where you have an older version of the database on a server, but you now have to connect a newer program to that database, they may be out of sync. This will manifest itself in various data problems occurring if you attempt install the new program on a computer, when it is not connected to the server database, via the Network Data Path.

The current version defaults to a directory named “c:\program files\lien program”. If this is where your current database is at, find where your old data files are located. Start your old program one more time. Select “Help” from the Main Menu. Select “Display System Status”. There will be an entry called “Default Drive”. Write down the path name listed. You can also use the F12 key to print the screen. Save this name.

Single Station Upgrade: Starting the program installer. You can override the installation location, but we do not recommend this. Run the program once installed (you can use the Start Menu or Desktop Icons). If this is an installation with a database on the local drive, it will automatically update. If this is an installation with a server database already connected to the program, the server database will automatically update. If this is a new install, or your yearly registration is required, you will need to get your Registration Code from FWM Software, LLC at 916-941-9961, but don’t enter your company information, etc., as we will get that from your old data. If an new install, but with a database on the server that you want to connect to, and you know the data is already in sync (same version) then all you have to do is go to page 8 of Defaults for Lien Program and enter the new Network Data Path:

. When the Defaults are closed, the program will ask for a confirmation of the change and the databases will immediately connect:

Warning!: If you know or suspect the new program and server databases will be out of sync if they are connected, use the deploy feature to sync them first (see below).

Multiple Station Upgrade: Server – There is no need to install the program on a server. All you need is a legal and accessible location to place the data, i.e. F:\Lien Program, S:\, etc. To connect to a server database already in sync with your programs, all you have to do is go to page 8 of Defaults for Lien Program and enter the new Network Data Path:

. When the Defaults are closed, the program will ask for a confirmation of the change and the databases will immediately connect:

Warning!: If you know or suspect the new program and server databases will be out of sync if they are connected, use the deploy feature to sync them first (see below).

Multiple Station Upgrade: Stations - If you have a network license for multiple users on your first station. If the stations are already connected to the server database, you will be asked to update the server database and indexes automatically. DO SO ONCE (Ok, Ok, Yes, and Yes):

For every subsequent station installation, the answers will be faster: Ok, Ok, NO and NO. It is not necessary to update and re-index the server database twice. If they were connected before, they will be connected after the installs.

If you add stations after the upgrade, you will need to go to page 8 of Defaults for Lien Program and enter the new Network Data Path for each station:

. When the Defaults are closed, the program will ask for a confirmation of the change and the databases will immediately connect:

Warning!: If you know or suspect the new program and server databases will be out of sync if they are connected, use the deploy feature to sync them first (see below).

Deploying a Database: There are two reasons for deploying a database:

Create a new location: One is to move the database to a new location. For example, if you have the database in your default c:\program files\lien program but would like to move it to another location, from the Main Menu select Setup / File Maintenance / Deploy a Database:

Confirm that you are the only user of your Lien Program® current in the database:

The Choose New or Update Database Location screen will appear with the current location:

Specify the new location and press ‘Ok’: If the new location does not exist, it will ask to create it:

Upon your confirm, the database will be copied to the new location (the old location is saved and untouched) and the Network Data Path on page 8 of Defaults for Lien Program is changed to reflect the changed location:

If you have other stations that were connected before the Deploy, you will have to boot them one by one, and go to page 8 of Defaults for Lien Program and change the Network Data Path to reflect the new location of the database;

Update an Old Location and Sync the databases: The second reason to use deploy is to sync your databases where you have a newer program trying to connect to an older database. Normally, you would simply update a connected station with a newer program and the older server database will be update automatically. But, for example, you could have a situation, such as when a station computer and attendant Lien Program® has to be suddenly updated without updating the old station as an option (computer crash, replacement of old machine, etc.), and the older database on your server is now out of sync with the newer program on the station. From the Main Menu select Setup / File Maintenance / Deploy a Database:

Confirm that you are the only user of your Lien Program® current in the database:

The Choose New or Update Database Location screen will appear with the current location:

Change the path to the existing database you intend to update:

Press ‘Ok’. Upon your confirmation, the program will detect the old, out of sync database, and give you three options:

YES: This option will replace the data in the older database with the data from your currently selected database. In the example above, all the data in the “R:\Liendata\Western Materials” database will be replaced with the current “R:\Liendata\New Data” database. This is not the option you would normally use to sync your database;

NO: This option will preserve and update the older database and sync it with you new program. In the example above, the “R:\Liendata\New Data” is disconnected but otherwise untouched, while the older “R:\Liendata\Western Materials” database is updated and synced with the new program, putting you back in business.

CANCEL: Ends all further operations, returning the program to the status quo.

If you have other stations that were connected before the Deploy, you will have to boot them one by one, and go to page 8 of Defaults for Lien Program and change the Network Data Path to reflect the new location of the database;

9.1.3.7

MINOR RELEASE – Terminal Server Reporting Problem

Disappearing Certified Log – We found a problem that occurred in large printing runs where the program is writing for the Certified Log table, causing new log records to ‘disappear’. This was because the temporary record buffer was being flooded and overwritten. This problem has been fixed.

9.1.3.6

MINOR RELEASE – Terminal Server Reporting Problem

New Installations – All new installations on XP machines were reporting as Terminal Server installs. This has been fixed.

9.1.3.5

MINOR RELEASE – Form Updates and Program Improvements – All programs

One Reindex – If you are looking for two re-indexes on a new install, one has been removed. Only the second re-index asks for confirmation;

Sworn Statement of Account – This was one of those needed revisions that will drive a programmer nuts. We slightly modified the form in the 9.1.3.0 release, then found that a few printers out there (none in our testing section) did not like the modification and refused to print the form. Fortunately, we found one older printer in our office which had the same problem, and corrected the form. It should work fine on any printer;

Do Data Update – In the last update we moved the Do Data Update field on page 7 of Lien Program Defaults from the Initial.dbf table (personal defaults) to the Liensys.dbf table (universal defaults) table, but neglected to have it control the Update Data option in the Import screen:

This was causing the Do Update field to default to checked (true), which was causing some clients records not to import unless they reset the field at every import. This has been changed. It now sets to the value of the Do Data Update field and the default is unchecked (false).

9.1.3.4

MAJOR RELEASE – Must Upgrade

Revised State Forms – There have been revisions to the AR, KS, OK and TX state forms. If you do business in these states upgrade as soon as possible;

Don’t Print Company on Green Card - By default, the program prints the company name on the green card. This is particularly useful for service companies who rep a large number of different companies. However, some companies do not want the company name to print in fear that the owner/general/customer will see the name and refuse the certified mail. To prevent the company name from printing, check this box. The default is unchecked:

Enter Return Receipts Received – This screen has been improved with a new Filter to display only the records where a green card has not been returned and logged. When you press the button the text of the button turns red and states “Clear Filter”. At this point only the records with the Received field set to “N” will display. Pressing the “Clear Filter” button turns the filter off and returns the text of the button to “Set Not Returned Filter”:

File Maintenance Setup Menu Option – As displayed below these options have been moved to the File Maintenance option in the Setup option of the Main Menu. This option is not new to Lien Writer® Multi-State or Lien Writer Pro®, which has had this option for about a year:

You can also restrict access to this menu in the Defaults for Lien Program® option of Setup to keep unauthorized users from accessing the menu:

9.1.3.3

MINOR RELEASE – Form Updates and Program Improvements – All programs

Improved Problem Recovery – The Lien Program® databases are very, very tough, but, like all databases, they are not happy if you have things like power outages, computer freeze shutdowns, salesman tripping over the power cord, etc. Even then the program can recover from a lot, but on a rare occasion you can get a dreaded container or index match problem. Our usual solution is to “problem in” to the program by Ignoring the problems until the program boots, and then using the table and index and pack options to fix the database. But this is time consuming and very irritating, aside from the potential for a heart attack on you working about losing your data.

Well, no more. We have added new routines that detect a damaged table container and in almost all cases and allow you to repair it then and there when the problem occurs. The only requirement is you must boot everyone out of the system besides yourself to fix the tables. Just follow the instructions (basically agree to everything) and the program will make its best attempt to fix everything. In testing we were not able to create a scenario where the program could not fix the data, but we have found over the years that customers are very inventive so I will not promise it will always work. Yet.

Also, in scenarios where you are trying to use the Recover Table In… or Table Viewer options to recover data the program will also try to fix the external databases so you can import from them.

9.1.3.2

MINOR RELEASE – Form Updates – All programs

California Lien Release – This form was modified to remove the verification, which is no longer needed;

Reference Record Saving – In the last issue of the program we modified the input sequence so the telephone numbers and e-mail address were entered after the address sequence, which was more logical. Alas, the change was neglecting to save the telephone numbers and e-mail!! This has been modified so the Reference record saving is done after the e-mail address is entered;

Telephone Numbers On Forms – The recent update caused telephone numbers not to be printed on forms unless you had them entered on page 4 of the Lien Program® defaults. This has been corrected.

9.1.3.2

MINOR RELEASE – New screens – Lien Writer Pro® Only

Unpost Option in Post Mass Item to A/R Details – An Unpost Mass Matrix Detail for Date Period? option has been added to this screen. This allows you to “unpost” the recent period posting of Mass Matrix items to A/R Detail. It presumes you have use the Delete Mass Matrix Detail Import for Invoice Month? option in the Print Invoices screen. It would be in the case you want to make corrections to the Mass Matrix items for re-posting to the A/R Details:

Delete Mass Matrix Import Option in Print Invoices – A Delete Mass Matrix Detail Import for Invoice Month? option has been added to this screen. This allows you to completely remove the recent Mass Matrix import into the A/R Detail for the Invoice Month period. I presumes you will use the Unpost Mass Matrix Detail for Date Period? option in the Post Mass Items to A/R Details screen to “unpost” the period Mass Matrix records to be corrected and reimported:

9.1.3.1

MINOR RELEASE – Lien Programs® and Lien Writer Pro®

Lien Writer Pro® Only

Electronic Confirmation - If checked, this field, found on Page 13 of Lien Program® Defaults, will require that when an item is billed an e-mail confirmation of the preparation of the document is e-mailed to your client. This works for any item that involves billing, whether you bill or skip billing:

This will help prevent the “did you do my work yet” and “could you send a confirmation of the work or a copy of the work” calls. E-mailing confirmation takes just a few seconds, and you can modify the e-mail if you want to add some comments. The advantage of this method of confirmation is speed and a guarantee the confirmation is done.

By the way, this feature does not work currently with Mass Printing items for Preliens, Waivers, etc. We are looking into this, but most Lien Services do not print this way.

Lien Programs® All Users

Default Settings More Clearly Defined – The Lien Program® default screens have been slightly changed to more clearly define fields as User fields, which means they only apply to the station user, and Universal fields, which means they are the same in every station. For example, on Page 7 of Lien Program® Defaults you have fields for electronic imports in Green (Universal) and Black (User specific). This will help some of the confusion calls we get on people fighting over changes in the file they think belong to the user when they are universal to all users!:

Find Button for Companies – If you have a large number of Companies to deal with may have found that using the drop down field to find the Company Code or having to remember and enter the Company Code directly as laborious. We have added a “Find” button for the Company that works like the other “Find” buttons, where you can sort any of the “green” fields by clicking on the column heading, or type the data you want to look up at the top of any column. Double clicking or pressing ‘Select’ on the current field returns this information to your Current Jobs or History record Company Code and related fields:

9.1.3.0

MAJOR RELEASE – Must Upgrade

Lien Writer Pro® Only Additions – These new reports have been added Lien Writer Pro®:

• Service Detail Summary – A summary of the price matrix billing items. Can be run for the month or past months;

• A/R Printing Detail Summary – A summary of the A/R items not run through the price matrix. Can be run for the month or past months;

• E-Mail Confirmation to Clients – Automatically have confirmations go to your clients of your work completion;

• All Product ID boxes have Drop Down Boxes – To quickly allow changes without have to look up codes.

• Billing Summaries in Lien Writer Pro® - There have been Print Summary and Set Filter buttons added to the Mass Matrix Detail Entry/Update and the A/R Detail Entry/Update screens. These options will print summaries of the table data for a specified Date Range and even Bill To code, or allow you to set a Filter to review records by a specific Date Range or Bill To code:

New Postal Rates - On page 3 of your Lien Program® defaults, enter the new postal rates:

Additions to the Pettit type 60 Form – The form now shows all party contract numbers, including Job number (Customer), Contract Numbers (Owner and General Contractor) and Account Number (Lender / Surety). The Customer name is also printed on the Green Card as part of the regular information;

State Updates– State Form updates have been made for the states of AL, CA (new country requirements), FL, NV, OK, TX, MI, PA and WA;

Telephone Numbers – The program has been upgraded to allow the Telephone numbers on page 4 of Lien Program® defaults to automatically substitute for all company phone numbers in Lien and Bond claims:

New 22-Digit Certified Numbers are Now Available – If you want to use one of the new electronic mailing systems from the Postage Meter companies that require a 22 digit Certified number the Lien Programs® can now handle them. Enter the information on page 3 of Lien Program® defaults. You use the Electronic Certification field only if you use 22 digit certified numbers, in which case the first two digits go in the Electronic Certification filed. Then, enter the next seven digits (or enter the first seven digits on a 20 digit number) in the Certified Prefix, then the next twelve digits in the Certified Starting Number, and so on:

Auto-E-Mail Start – If you now client on any e-mail field your Mail Client will automatically start with that address in it;

New Label Printers Supported – The Lien Programs® now support both Seika and Dymo desktop label printers using the standard 1 1/8” x 3 ½” standard label rolls. Their advantages over other printers? They print only as many labels as you need for a job- no waste! The printers are very inexpensive, too:

Seiko Dymo

New Options to Move and Delete Records – A bunch of new options have been added to the Edit section of the Main Menu to allow Marking, Move and Deleting of record more efficiently. You also have a bunch of new options to move History record like you move Current Job records. This is especially handy where you have accidently moved a bunch of records to History that you want to move back to Current Jobs. You can also restrict record movement or deletion by station. See the notes on Station Control, below;

Station Control – This is a major update to the Lien Programs® that allow you much greater control of record movement, deletion and printing, including labels. With Station Control you can set up so you can do all these functions with Current Job and History records, but only for your particular station. It works like this. In every Current Job and History record there is a field called Station ID. It refers to which station has control over the record:

In a multi-user environment every station needs to be set up with a Unique Station ID, if one does not auto-assign the first time the program is set up. You do this on Page 7 of Lien Program® Defaults:

• Default Station ID: Enter a unique station ID number. If you network is set up with unique ID's this may set up for you automatically;

• Auto-Enter Station ID for Marked Operations: Checking this box will auto-enter your Default Station ID whenever a station ID for selection is requested. The default is unchecked;

• Must Use Marked Records Operations: If checked, this field will require that any time a Marked Record or other selection operation that requests a station ID, the program BY DEFAULT the station ID will be used. It is very useful if you have many office users and only want a few users to have unrestricted access. The default is unchecked.

If you have set up a Station ID, the program will automatically something like this screen, allowing you to restrict printing for a station:

If the Auto-Enter Station ID for Marked Operations is checked, your station ID will appear automatically in the selection field. However, if you have checked the Must Use Marked Records Operations checkbox this screen will not appear, but the program will presume that all marked record operations for any mass printing or data processing operation will use the Station ID to filter. This is useful if you have a large number of users and want to restrict their usage only to their own stations, with maybe a system manager or two setup with only Auto-Enter Station ID for Marked Operations check so they can control other printing and processing.

Texas Run Setup – This system has been upgraded to default to the Save All Other Record Marks and Mark Texas Also option, and to be able to use the Station ID filter:

Lien Extension Agreement – This form has been upgraded for all states;

Check for Duplicate Job Numbers – This option on page 11 of Lien Program® Defaults has been improved. It also checks for duplicates in the Liens and History tables to truly prevent duplicate job number entry;

Copy From Option for Owner, General and Lender/Surety – Copy from.. buttons have been added to the Owner, General and Lender/Surety screens to make field entry even faster when you want to copy data already entered, especially where you have a Customer and General with the same data (the Lien Programs® will not print a notice twice):

9.1.2.3

MINOR RELEASE – Lien Writer Pro® Only

Revised Billing System for Lien Writer Pro® – The billing system in Lien Writer Pro® has been completely revised. See the Billing with Lien Writer Pro® section in the Help File;.

Last Record Used – A problem crept into the program that did not allow the program to return to the last record used when you booted the program for a new session, which was the former default, instead returning to the top of the database table. This has been corrected, and the program again boots to the last record used;

Substitutions for End Date in Lien Warnings, Mechanic’s Liens and Bond Claims – Although rare there are conditions where a Dated Ended or Completed date (the job end date or completed for you, as set in Dates and Dollars of the Current Jobs screen) is unknown or the job is continuing:

In those cases, when printing some Lien Warning, Mechanic’s Liens or Public Bond Claims documents, you can have an option to instead of having to ignore or declare an end date to instead choose to declare the dates continuing or unknown, with text appropriate to the situation:

If you choose either any other option except use the date the date fields become inaccessible. It would be noted that a date is always preferred.

9.1.2.2

INTERNAL UPGRADE – Not released to general public

9.1.2.1

MINOR RELEASE – Form Updates

Maryland Notice to Owner or Owner’s Agent of Intention to Claim a Lien - This form has been updated to comply with Maryland law;

Notary Form for San Diego County, California – This form has been update to comply with some local requirements.

9.1.2.0

MAJOR RELEASE – Must Upgrade

Auto-Update for Legal Software - This probably the biggest and most requested upgrade we have added to the Lien Programs® in 8 years. When you install the program now, with an Internet connection and a legally installed version, the program will not ask you for registration codes. It will otherwise go through the installation process and update your software. This means so long has you have a prior legally installed software you can install any time of day up to your date of expiration without having to call us. The program will still ask for a new code starting 14 days before your expiration date, but then, if your software support is up to date, you can just call us for new codes. This will not work on a new station installation- you will have to call us for that. And, the program detects illegal installations. Remember, there is a $250,000.00 per violation fine for copyright violations. It ain’t worth it;

Test for Users Before Upgrade – A common problem on upgrading it that upgrading the data files is a single user operation, but ever so often on an upgrade someone does not check to see if they are the only user in the system. The program will know ask you to check if any other users are in the system. If the program says there are, you can check to have those persons log out and so you can continue. If they are already out but the system shows them still logged due to a improper logout by that station, you can still just continue the upgrade;

Pettit Forms and Plain Paper forms – Pettit forms are available for almost every state, but a very few have forms that cannot be placed even on the two pages available of Pettit Laser forms. If you are doing a printing run and a unavailable state is in the run, the program will advise you that this forms cannot be printed, and then continue to print the other states. After the Pettit form run you can print the other states as plain paper forms.

9.1.1.7

MINOR RELEASE – Problem Correction

Delete and F3 Deletion – These routines were upgraded to because of a conflict with the GUID index key and moving records back and forth. Only appeared after multiple moves.

9.1.1.6

MINOR RELEASE – Final Release of Lien Writer Pro®

New Release - This is the official release of the Lien Writer Pro® version. The forms are the same as version 9.1.1.5, but if you have the Pro version you can also do billing for your client work;

Rhode Island Mechanic’s Liens – This form was modified to denote two hundred (200) days instead of one hundred twenty (120) days for filing. Also see the new Notice of Intention help file notes on enforcement of the lien;

AZ Preliminary Forms and Certified Numbers (Mass Printing Only) – For quite a while there has been a conflict with users on how to print Arizona (AZ) forms. Arizona state residents are used to printing First Class Preliminary notices for mailing as 1) they are allowed to do so for AZ mailings and 2) the forms are very inexpensive when compared with the cost of certified mailings. The rest of the country, of course, requires Certified mailing of Preliminary notices. For quite a while, when using Lien Writer® for mass or single printing of plain paper forms (that is, 8.5 x 11 inch paper), all you had to do was check the Use Mailing Logs for AZ checkbox on page three of Lien Writer Defaults and the Preliminary Notice forms would be assigned to the correct certified or first class log as they printed. But, the program has had problems with mixing Pettit Pre-Printed Laser forms types during mass printings of Certified Pettit forms and the Plain Paper Pettit forms (AZ Only) (Pettit forms are all 8.5 x 14 inches) because you did not know when forms had to be switched from Certified Pettit forms (all other states) and the Plain Pettit forms (AZ only) in printer runs. This has especially been a problem for folks who want to have the convenience of Pettit forms but want to be able to use the low cost first class mailings in AZ, and not print their form sets one at a time (the only way to mix the forms).

.We have made provisions for this mixing of Pettit Laser forms. You can now do a separate run of Plain Paper Pettit forms for AZ before you a general mailing of Certified Pettit forms for all other states, and the program will correctly assign them to the first class mailing log. So, If you want to run you plain paper Pettit forms for AZ before you run the Certified Pettit forms for the other states, choose the new Preliminary Notices for Marked Records and AZ Only option and the AZ forms only forms will print. When you choose the mass printing for the Pettit Certified Forms anything unprinted will print as certified, even AZ forms, but they should have been cleared in the earlier run. These forms will also be in the correct certified mailing log.

This will not work with Pettit Dot-matrix manifold forms, which must still be printed in a separate run. And, of course not a concern at all if you print only on plain white paper.

So, to process AZ Preliminary Notices as First Class Mailings, remember to check Use Mailing Logs for AZ checkbox on page three of Lien Writer Defaults is the key. If checked, the program assumes that AZ forms are to be sent First Class (if unchecked all forms go certified mai), with these caveats:

1) In single printings, with Pettit or plain paper forms, the program will automatically choose the correct mailing log. For Pettit forms, be sure to insert the correct form type, Plain Paper (AZ only) or Certified (all other states);

2) In mass printings, option Preliminary Notices for Marked Records, with plain paper forms the program will choose the correct log automatically, but with Pettit forms the program assumes all printings are certified printings. This is how it was before, and must be now. Some users insist on sending their AZ forms certified;

3) However, in mass printings, option Preliminary Notices for Marked Records and AZ Only, for all forms, plain paper (8.5 x 11) or Plain Paper Pettit (8.5 x 14), the program will assume the notices are being sent first class mail. Printing these AZ notices first for Pettit forms removes them from the queue when you print the rest using Preliminary Notices for Marked Records;

All Pettit Forms can be ordered from Pettit Manifold Forms at (818) 798-1682, fax: (818) 952-8119.

Unmark Printed Pettit Forms – This option on page 3 of Lien Writer Defaults has been revised so that if checked it even overrides the Mark to Print Later option for Preliminary notices on page 11 of Lien Writer Defaults:

Pettit Type 60 Forms for FL and TX – These forms have been revised for clearer reading;

Stop Notices, all Required States, Public and Private – These forms have been revised to contend with some reported printer incompatibilies;

California Mechanic’s Lien Forms – The last revision of these forms made the header possibly incompatible when printing on some printers. This has been revised to work on any printer.

9.1.1.5

MINOR RELEASE – Problem Correction

Form Update – Every one of the California Notary Jurat forms had been updated to the recent new standards except the single use form under the PRINT button. This has been fixed. For those of you asking about California notaries certifying forms for other states, a notary should be certifying a jurat form appropriate to the state, not necessarily using a California form.

9.1.1.4

MINOR RELEASE – Problem Correction

Import Problem – Addition of our new GUID (Global Universal Identifier) field was causing an problem during imports. This has been corrected and the field correctly populated.

9.1.1.3

INTERNAL UPDATE – Not Released

9.1.1.2

MINOR RELEASE – Feature Additions

F9 Key - A problem crept into this function that prevented the duplicating of records. It has been fixed;

Texas Preliminary Notices – This form has been slightly modified to more clearly identify the month and year the notice is covering;

Arizona Private Preliminary Notice – This form has been slightly modified in the to have the plain paper forms print correctly on two pages;

Prelminary Notice Order Printing – Somehow the printing order on these forms and their labels got reversed in order. We have corrected that problem to Project State / Company order ascending for both forms and labels.

9.1.1.1

MINOR RELEASE – Feature Additions

Multiple State Mechanic’s Lien Upgrades - A minor defect in the Oregon Private Mechanic’s Lien has been corrected. This, however, lead us to a re-evaluation of all of the mechanic’s lien forms based on reports of more and more Recorder’s offices getting very particular about the margin settings for “Fast Trac” documents, which is easily the most popular standard in the USA today. Little gray haired recorders are getting out their specially designed font and margin rulers to see if they can charge you extra for the document filing. Because of this, we have adjusted all mechanic’s lien forms to conform with the Fast Trac requirement standard as to headings and margins, in addition to the various state font requirements. Font sizes have been adjusted on the larger size as almost all jurisdictions required 8 points or greater, and many require 10 point courier. Since printers have this very bad tendency to have as much as a ½ point difference in font size from the Windows true font standards, we have adjusted all fonts to be at least ½ point larger than they were before. This could cause some documents to increase in size, but this may be set off by our increasing the printing margins to the maximum possible. Page 2 and subsequent pages also have automatic one inch margins all around. If you have any problems, please report them to us, but we expect that everyone will be happy with this upgrade.

9.1.1.0

MAJOR RELEASE – Must Upgrade

Multiple State Form Upgrades - 15 states have had form upgrades, plus a number of minor adjus®ents in nearly all the forms;

California Notary Form – This form has be upgraded to remove “the undersigned” from all California forms;

Changes in Setup – The File Maintenance routines, like Deploy, Reindex and Repair, etc. have been moved to a sub-menu called File Maintenance, mostly because these can be dangerous operations in the hands of the uninformed:

Access to this menu is also controllable by the Lien Writer Defaults menu where access can be prevented by checking the Gray Out File Maintenance box on page 1 of defaults.

Tracker Upgrade – The Set Main Record in Current Jobs button in Tracker has been changed. If the Current Jobs screen is active and you choose a line item in Tracker and press the button:

The Current Jobs screen will come forward and display the chosen record, allowing you to work right in the screen:

If you click on Tracker again you can repeat the process. This option makes it easier to work with a bunch of desired records at a time;

Changes to Current Job and History Entry / Update Screens – Several changes have been made to these screens based on user suggestions. First, the Other Legal Parties and Other Liening Parties buttons have been moved off the Customer tab onto the screen body, making the corresponding sub-screens available no matter what tab you are currently in for cross reference. For Multi-State and Pro users we now also display the name and address of the chosen Company in full, rather then just the Company Code, to make identification of similarly named companies easier to identify. Some other minor color changes and moving of fields for logical entry have been also done:

Search Button – The Search Button function has been upgraded for more consistent location of records;

Print File No. on Green Cards – File number has been added as an option to print on Pettit Type 60 Green Cards. Set it up on Page 11 of the Lien Program Defaults:

Option Ref. # on labels – If you use regular labels, the Job Line on the labels has been modified to Ref. #, and you can now use other options besides job number. If you have checked the Print Reference Information on Labels on page 3 of Lien Writer Defaults:

And have chosen what you want to print on the labels on page 11 of Lien Writer defaults:

Then the program will print the data specified by the choice on your all of your labels. This makes identifying the particular project much easier and according to your own company’s standards.

9.1.0.1

MINOR RELEASE – Feature Additions

New Release of Lien Writer Pro – The Pro version of Lien Writer® has had a number of improvements, including the abilities to 1) Download data generated at Web sites; 2) The ability to tie a particular certified number set to a particular form type (plain paper, Pettit Laser or Pettit Dot Matrix forms) which lets you automatic printing with multiple users on a 50 state basis; and 3) a completely revised statement system. Soon to come is an interface to Quickbooks and other accounting systems;

AZ Lien Waiver and Release Forms – Release law changes have required an update of the Arizona Lien Waiver and Release forms. Usage is the same;

Mechanic’s Lien Release Forms – These forms have been updated to provide corrected margins now required by a number of states. A default setting of 4 works with most printers printing too far to the left.

9.1.0.0

MAJOR RELEASE – Must Upgrade

Left Margin Adjus®ent for Plain Paper Preliminary Notice forms – This upgrade to the plain paper preliminary notice forms that allows you to adjust the left margins like you can for Pettit Laser Forms. It was added to handle the problems some folks have had with plain paper forms printing far too close to the printer’s left margin and not automatically adjusting. Adjust the margin in the Left Margin (All Others) field on Page 11 of the Lien Program Defaults. A setting of 0 (no change) to 20 (major shift) can be used, but 3 to 5 should be sufficient. One note. If you adjust too much on some printers you may get character cut-off on the right side of the paper! The forms themselves have been largely upgraded to take advantage of the new formats:

E-Mail Fields Added – All parties to the jobs now have e-mail fields. This includes all owners, generals, customers, lenders, sureties references and companies:

Nevada Mechanic’s Lien Forms – The Nevada forms have been upgraded to compile with font size requirements of the various counties. The new forms have increased to two pages in size, which we understand may cost more to file. However, the forms meet all the new requirements, and must be used;

California Notary Forms – The California notary / jurat forms have been modified to comply with recent changes in California law;

Virginia Mechanic’s Lien Forms – The necessary Notice to Owner for General Contractors has been added;

New Jersey Lien Release Forms – This form has had the parties description upgraded;

Search Button – This search button has been upgraded and expanded on any screen it is allowed.

9.0.1.2

MINOR RELEASE – Feature Addition

Mail Affidavit for California Pettit Laser Forms – At customer request, an option has been added to the California Preliminary Notice (Public or Private) that will add a Mailing Affidavit to the Pettit laser forms if the Print Signature Lien option on Page 3 of the Lien Program Defaults is checked. Normally, the forms are not signed at all.

9.0.1.1

MINOR RELEASE – Minor Enhancements

9.0.1.0

MAJOR RELEASE – Must Upgrade

North Carolina Forms – A number of changes have been down to the North Carolina forms to bring them in sync with court cases since the 2005 Legislative changes. Nothing in particular for you procedurally, just text changes in the forms;

Utah Lien Waiver and Release Forms – All of the new required lien waiver and release forms for Utah have been added. The biggest changes is that there are no longer options for unconditional on progress and conditional on final forms are no longer used, only conditional progress and unconditional final releases. We strongly urge that you use the conditional progress as often as possible;

Nevada Release of Lien Form – This form has been modified to match the requirements of the various County Record offices on APN numbers;

Table Recovery – This new maintenance option under the Setup Menu has the ability, in most if not all cases, to “fix” files damaged by such things as power outages, computer freeze ups, network shutdowns, etc. Includes fixes to damaged record headers and even most data corruption. Just click on it and your table files and database are researched and repaired automatically. You must be the only user in the system to use this option.

9.0.0.4

MINOR RELEASE – Form changes

Pre-Liened by Customer Report – This report formerly worked only for the Current Jobs table. It has been revised to work with the History table, too. This can be very useful to locate records moved to History, especially for service resellers.

9.0.0.3

MINOR RELEASE – Corrections for the 9.0.0.0, 9.0.0.1 and 9.0.0.2 releases

Corrections – This release is not a required upgrade, but does update a number of minor problems in the SEARCH function spotted by customers. This should be the final release of the 9.0.0.0 series. The next will be 9.0.1.0 version due after February, barring any special court case or legislative law changes.

9.0.0.2

MINOR RELEASE – Corrections for the 9.0.0.0 release

Corrections – This release is not a required upgrade, but does update a number of minor problems spotted by customers or problems related specifically to their computer systems;

Left Margin Setting for Waivers and Releases – For years we had the margin on waiver and release forms be auto-set by the user’s computer. Unfortunately, some printers have margin settings of their own and could cause documents to print with too much margin, or too little. We decided to settle this problem once and for all. In the Defaults for Lien Program®, Page 1, there is a new field under the Waiver and Release of Rights section called Left Margin Spaces. This option allows you to set the number of characters to indent on the left margin of the waiver and release forms. The default is zero, but you should adjust the character setting to give about a one inch margin on the form, required in many court jurisdictions.

License Table Warning on Installation – Some users were reporting on installation the program was giving a license usage problem when the installation was completed. We have found this was due to a license table having a unresolved login before the installation started. We have cleared this up so the program will clear the unresolved logins before the installation is done;

Browse and Find Functions – Several users reported in the 9.0.0.0 and 9.0.0.1 versions they were having problems with the Browse and F5 functions. This turned out to be a Search Engine problem with our upgrade from Visual Foxpro 7.0 to Visual Foxpro 9.0 SP2, and has been repaired;

9.0.0.1

MINOR RELEASE – Find Function Additions

9.0.0.0

MAJOR RELEASE – Must Upgrade

Checks for Exclusivity before Installation - Many companies with networks seem to have a repeated problem – you are supposed to install your Lien Programs® with everyone off the network, but they don’t actually have everyone off. Seldom does a week pass we do not get a call on an installation where the network manager or user swears everyone is off the network and insists something is instead wrong with the software, generally quickly followed with a “opps, I was wrong, nevermind”. Well, no more. The program now checks for exclusivity on installs and will not install itself until you have kicked everyone else off. It will even tell you the stations still used on the network so you can personally toss them off.

New Programming System and New Look - The programming language for the Lien Programs® has been upgraded to Visual Foxpro 9.0, Service Pack 2. This assures a bunch of new programming features, increased speed, and a brand new look to the program to keep it consistent with other Windows programs. We wisely waited for this upgrade because, as several of our competitors found out, putting your trust in the first release of a new programming language often ends up with serious problems for your customers! We will do the same when Visual Foxpro 10.0 comes out next year- wait for service pack 2!;

Don’t Enter Program if Database is Down - This is a new option found on page 8 of the Lien Program® Defaults. If the program databases are on a network and the network goes down, and you do not want to have the program start until the network is back up, check this option. If checked, the program will note the network is down and invite you to try again (if you can get the network up yourself) until the network is available, or allow you to log out of the program. If it is not checked the program as before will give you the option to disconnect the database and go in anyway so you can do you still do your vital work in the default database. On the other hand, such an action means you have records in different locations. The default is unchecked;

California Notary Acknowledgement – The program has been revised with the latest required California Notary Acknowledgement (08/01/2006). The Acknowledgement now also prints automatically with CA Mechanic’s Liens;

Send Certified – Traditionally, during data input, if the Use Certified Numbers box on page 3 of the Lien Program® defaults was checked the program also presumed during data entry that the Send Certified boxes should be checked. However, we have found circumstances where a user may be inputting records wanting to have the Send Certified box checked while not using the certified numbers options on page 3, including not checking Use Certified Numbers. This causes confusion. To end it, we added the new checkbox Send Certified on page 7 of the Lien Program® defaults to determine if you want new records automatically checked regardless of the Use Certified Numbers setting. The default is checked;

Lien Waivers and Releases – Some customers have reported that their releases had a tendency to drift to the left margins on some printers. This has been fixed, and your release text should always be properly centered;

Tracker – A long awaited and handy new tool is our Tracker system, a new grid screen that allows you to review Current Job Records in a variety of ways, including Entry Date, Start Performance Date, Pre-Lien Date, Waiver Release Date, End Performance Date, Lien Warning Date and Mechanic’s Lien Date. The big advantage of using this tool is you can see problems immediately. The grid divides by different colors over a 0 – 120 day period and for empty dates. Click on any grid record and press the Set Main Record in Current Jobs button, and the Current Jobs screen will move to that record;

State Form Changes – Revised forms have added or changed for the states of WI, SD, WA, RI, NY, OH, IL, KY, MN, TX, IA, MI and CO.

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