I got a call over the weekend from a client who needed to file a Florida mechanics lien, but the 90th day from when his company last furnished labor and materials was on the previous day – a Friday. The recorders office was closed on that day in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday, and so he wondered whether the lien was due before the holiday (on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving), or after the holiday (on the Monday after Thanksgiving).
The question is a tough one, and one that is important to consider now that we’re in the middle of the holiday season. Recorders will have strange holidays between now and the new year, and there’s no real rhyme or reason to the days these recorders decide to close. While there are some state-wide holidays, recorders oftentimes have a “flex” holiday schedule, which means they get a few days each year to designate as a holiday. So while a recorder in one county may be closed, the recorder in the county just a few miles away may be open.
I actually didn’t know the answer to my client’s question (it’s different in every state, and I don’t always know the rules off the top of my head), and so I referred him to Avvo.com to pose his question to the community of Florida attorneys there. The answer came in very quickly, as answers always do on Avvo, and here it is: Deadlines that end on holidays get extended to the next court day in Florida. I later found this procedure rule (Rule 1.090) which explains the rule.
Just because Florida calculates its mechanic lien deadlines this way does not guarantee your state will. Each state is different, and some states require filings before weekends and holidays.
While mechanic lien rules in a state may have its own time computation rules, they usually follow the state’s general procedural rule for time computation. If you’re looking for the rule in your state, a good place to start is by doing a Google search for the state’s civil procedure rules on time computation.