Mississippi Lien Waiver Rules
- Rules At A Glance
- Top Links
Specific Form Required
Mississippi requires that the statutory form be used in order for a lien waiver to be effective.
Notarization Is Required
Mississippi code § 85-7-433 requires that lien waivers must be sworn to and signed before a notary public in order to be effective.
Cannot Waive Rights in Contract
Mississippi does not allow a right to claim a lien to be waived prior to furnishing labor, services or materials. Any attempt to do so is void and unenforceable.
Can Waive Rights Before Payment
Mississippi does allow lien rights to be waived prior to payment, if at least 60 days pass after the wavier is executed and the claimant doesn't file a notice that payment has not yet occurred.
Mississippi lien waivers (sometimes called lien releases) are strictly regulated. This is great news for contractors, suppliers, lenders, and anyone else on a Mississippi construction project because it makes it much easier to know what it is that you are deadline with when a lien waiver is requested or presented. Mississippi is now just one of 12 states that provide statutory lien waiver forms and have specific lien waiver laws.
Lien waivers are pretty complex documents. But because of how often they are exchanged on construction projects, that can often be overlooked. A lien waiver works as a receipt that payment has been made for work or materials on a job. These documents are exchanged at the time of payment, and commonly attached to subcontractor pay applications or vendor invoices.
There are different types of lien releases for different types of situations. Depending on whether payment has been received or is expected, and depending on whether the job is ongoing. Since lien waivers are routinely exchanged and needed for almost every payment on a construction project, companies are constantly trying to d=find better processes for sending, requesting, tracking, and collecting lien waivers.
Knowing everything you can about lien waivers will allow you to make your process faster. And if your process is faster, your cash will move faster. And that will be good for everyone.
As mentioned above, Mississippi provides a Lien Waiver Form Template within its laws that must be used by all project participants in order for lien waivers to be enforceable.
