Florida: Mechanic's Lien Waiver Form and Advance-Waiver Rules
The short answer
Florida makes an advance waiver of construction-lien rights unenforceable and permits waiver only for labor, services, or materials already furnished. Its statute offers progress and final payment forms, but says they 'may' be used rather than making them exclusive; no one may demand a different form, yet a voluntarily used variant remains enforceable according to its own terms. A lienor exchanging a waiver for a check may expressly condition the release on payment of that check.
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This is the general rule in Florida. Ezel applies current Florida law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and project scope | Fla. Stat. § 713.20, within Chapter 713 Part I; governs waiver, release, or satisfaction of construction liens and rights to claim a lien under that part. |
|---|---|
| Advance or prospective waiver | Prohibited: lien rights may be waived only to the extent labor, services, or materials have been furnished; an advance waiver is unenforceable (§ 713.20(2)). |
| Statutory form requirement | Optional statutory forms: progress/final waivers 'may' substantially follow subsections (4)-(5). A person cannot require a different form, but a non-similar waiver is enforceable by its own terms (§ 713.20(4)-(6), (8)). |
| Waiver types and payment stage | Two statutory samples: progress payment and final payment (§ 713.20(4)-(5)). No separate statutory conditional/unconditional quartet; lienor may add a check-payment condition (§ 713.20(7)). |
| Payment and effectiveness | Forms recite consideration/payment amount. A lienor exchanging a waiver for a check may condition effectiveness on payment of the check; absent a payment bond, owner may withhold that unpaid-check amount from contractor (§ 713.20(7)). Otherwise the document's own terms govern (§ 713.20(8)). |
| Required contents, exceptions, and through date | Progress form: amount, through date, customer, owner/job, property description, date, lienor/by; automatically excludes retention and later-furnished work. Final form: final-payment amount, customer, owner/job, property, date, lienor/by. Partial releases may be limited by amount, date with stated exceptions, or parcel (§ 713.20(3)-(5)). |
| Rights released and reserved | Statutory forms release only the lien and right to claim a lien for the described furnished work. Progress form preserves retention and post-through-date work; § 713.20(3) permits amount/date/exception/parcel limits. The forms do not state a release of bond or contract claims. |
| Signature, authority, notary, and format | Forms end with date, lienor, and 'By' signature line. Section 713.20 imposes no notary, acknowledgment, warning, type-size, attachment, or electronic-format rule. |
| Noncompliance, remedies, and transition traps | Advance waiver is unenforceable; non-similar payment-stage waiver is not void and instead is enforced by its terms (§ 713.20(2), (8)). Accepting an unsecured note is not a waiver unless expressly agreed in writing and does not extend notice/lien deadlines (§ 713.20(1)). |
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Requirements one by one
Separate the advance-waiver ban from a payment-stage release
Florida Statutes § 713.20(2) says a lien right may be waived only to the extent
labor, services, or materials have already been furnished. A blanket waiver
signed before that work is supplied is unenforceable.
Once work has been furnished, subsection (3) allows a release to be tailored by
amount, through date with stated exceptions, or part or parcel of the property.
That flexibility matters because a payment-stage waiver need not surrender the
entire project balance.
Treat the two forms as protected choices, not exclusive text
Subsections (4) and (5) say the progress and final waivers "may" substantially
follow the printed forms. Subsection (6) prevents another person from requiring
a different form. But subsection (8) expressly says a non-similar waiver is
still enforceable according to its own terms, so extra language can broaden or
narrow the actual release.
The progress form uses a through date and preserves retention plus later-
furnished labor, services, and materials. The final form has no through date or
automatic retention reservation. Both identify the payment amount, customer,
owner/job, property, date, lienor, and signer.
Add the condition when payment is by check
Florida does not print separate conditional and unconditional versions. Under
§ 713.20(7), a lienor exchanging the waiver for a check may condition the
release on payment of that check. Without a payment bond protecting the owner,
the owner may withhold the amount of the unpaid check from the contractor until
the condition is satisfied.
What trips people up
The statutory form releases only the lien and right to claim a lien. It does
not itself say that payment-bond rights, contract claims, or every other payment
remedy are released. A privately expanded form is nevertheless enforceable by
its own terms under subsection (8), which makes the actual wording important.
An unsecured note is not automatically payment or a waiver. Section 713.20(1)
says accepting the note does not waive the lien unless the lienor expressly
agrees in writing, and it does not change the statutory notice or lien-filing
periods.
Common questions
Does Florida prescribe four separate conditional and unconditional forms?
No. The statute prints one progress form and one final form. A lienor may add a
condition when the waiver is exchanged for a check.
Can a waiver release only one parcel or part of the amount due?
Yes. Section 713.20(3) expressly permits a release limited by amount, through
date with exceptions, or part or parcel of the real property.
Must a Florida lien waiver be notarized?
Section 713.20's complete forms call for the lienor and a "By" signature line,
but contain no notary or acknowledgment requirement.
Statutes and sources
- Fla. Stat. § 713.20 (advance-waiver ban, partial releases, progress/final
forms, check condition, and variant-form effect) —
https://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0713/Sections/0713.20.html
(accessed 2026-07-23)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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