35-34-05. Account lien

35-34-05. Account lien 1. In the case of an account maintained in a financial institution, the child support agency may establish a lien on the account by serving a notice of lien upon the financial institution in the manner provided for service of a summons in a civil action or in any other manner agreed to by the financial institution. The notice must be in a form prescribed by the child support agency and contain the name, social security number, or other taxpayer identification number and last-known address of the obligor, the amount of past-due support for which a lien is claimed, and any other information required by the child support agency. The notice of lien must state that the child support obligation is past due and that a copy of the notice of lien has been served on the obligor by first-class mail at the obligor's last-known address. 2. Upon service of the notice of lien on a financial institution in accordance with this section, the lien attaches to accounts of the obligor maintained in the financial institution and freezes all subsequent withdrawals from the account except for funds in excess of the amount of past-due support for which a lien is claimed under this section and as provided in subsection 3. 3. Notwithstanding a freeze on an account under subsection 2, the financial institution may satisfy any right of setoff which exists in connection with an account, payment orders that were made by the obligor before the financial institution was served with notice of lien, or other obligations of the obligor based upon written agreements or instruments made or issued by the obligor before the financial institution was served with notice of lien. 4. A lien under this section is perfected when the financial institution is served with notice of the lien.