§ 488.500.Generally

This is the section that defines what an attachment lien is and how strong it is against competing claims. Subdivision (a) fixes the starting point: levy on property creates the lien immediately, and it runs until it expires under § 488.510. Subdivision (b) sets the default priority rule — if attached property is later transferred or encumbered, it remains subject to the lien to the same extent it would remain subject to an execution lien under §§ 697.720 through 697.750, meaning a defendant cannot defeat the lien by selling or mortgaging the property afterward.

Two categories of property get their own priority rules instead of the default. Equipment attached under § 488.375 and farm products or inventory attached under § 488.405 — both filing-based liens — carry the same force and effect as a judgment lien on personal property created at the same time, under §§ 697.590 through 697.620. Vehicle-equipment attached under § 488.385 is more nuanced still: if the levying officer obtains possession of the vehicle's certificate of ownership, title, or registration card, the lien gets the priority of a lien creditor under Commercial Code §§ 9317 and 9323 as of that moment; if the officer never obtains the certificate, the lien only has the force of an unperfected security interest, and a bona fide purchaser or encumbrancer who gets both possession of the vehicle and its certificate takes free of the lien entirely.

Subdivision (e) addresses timing rather than type of property: if an attachment lien attaches to property already subject to a temporary protective order lien or an Article 1 lien (§ 491.110 and following) of Chapter 11, the attachment lien's priority relates back to when that earlier lien was created — though rights third persons already established while the earlier lien was in effect are not disturbed.