oada home > headlines > ghost lien

OADA Puts Brakes on “Ghost Lien” Pursuit

The Ohio Department of Jobs & Family Services recently filed a rule with the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review (JCARR) that would have allowed county child support enforcement agencies to attach liens against vehicles whose owners are in default of a child support order. JCARR consists of legislators and is the entity that all state agencies must go through in order to file administrative rules.

The proposed rule would have allowed a child support lien to simply be placed on the Ohio BMV’s automated titling processing system instead of following the current established lien procedures.  While we applaud efforts to collect overdue support, we believe attaching liens to motor vehicles (as opposed to other types of property where these liens have been effective) would create significant problems for our industry by putting dealers in a challenging position when entertaining vehicles on trade.  In addition, the proposal did not allow for an “innocent purchaser option” to cover dealers who have no knowledge of the lien.  ODJFS indicated dealers should not qualify for an innocent purchaser option because they “are in the business” and can check the BMV title website for lien information, a website that the BMV acknowledges may be down or not updated during the vehicle transaction at the dealership!

OADA met with legislators who serve on JCARR and expressed our opposition.  We argued ODJFS did not have statutory authority to create a motor vehicle lien mechanism and that this proposal went beyond the intent of the legislature. The members of JCARR agreed and ODJFS quickly withdrew the rule.

While we hope ODJFS now understands the flaws associated with their proposal, we won’t be surprised if they pursue legislation to create in statute a child support lien process.  As always, we will promote and protect dealer interests should proposed legislation surface.  Dealers may contact Joe Cannon at OADA at (800) 686-9100 or via e-mail at jcannon@oada.com with any questions.