Mississippi Lien Waiver Rules
- Rules At A Glance
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Specific Form Required
Mississippi requires lien waivers to substantially follow the statutory forms in order 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 a waiver to be executed before actual payment is received, but the amount stated in the waiver is conclusively deemed paid 60 days after execution unless the claimant timely preserves its rights by filing an affidavit of nonpayment or claim of lien before the 60-day period expires.
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 you are dealing 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, they 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 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.
