What is a partial lien waiver?

Statutory forms build these limits in. Arizona's progress forms release rights for work furnished “through ______ only and does not cover any retention, pending modifications and changes or items furnished after that date.” Wyoming's single statutory form is progress-style and preserves rights to retainage and later unpaid work.

The exceptions line is how a claimant keeps anything else open. Our conditional progress and unconditional progress templates prompt for it: disputed change orders, retention, and unpaid prior invoices. Where a state prescribes the form, use its wording rather than adding your own.

Partial vs final: a partial waiver is one receipt in a series, and the claimant keeps its rights for everything still to be paid. A final lien waiver is the last one and releases everything on the job apart from its listed exceptions, which is why retention and late change orders are usually settled there.

Not every state uses the split. Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Utah and Wyoming each have a single statutory progress form; Utah's is a conditional form, and Georgia and Mississippi set their own rules on when theirs takes effect (see the state table below). The general comparison, with a bounced-check example, is in conditional vs unconditional lien waivers.

Illustrative only: the subcontract, amounts and 10% retention rate are invented for this example. Your retention rate, billing dates and waiver amounts come from your contract and your state's form.

A drywall subcontractor bills a general contractor monthly, with each pay application covering work through month-end. The subcontract withholds 10% retention, and each waiver is for the net payment the subcontractor will actually receive.

After pay app No. 3 is paid, the general contractor's file should show unconditional waivers through April 30, a conditional waiver through May 31 waiting on its payment to clear, and $22,500 of retention that no partial waiver covers. Suppose the subcontractor has also submitted a $12,000 change order that is not yet approved: it lists that amount under exceptions on each waiver, and it stays open until it is approved and paid or settled at closeout with the final waiver.

On AIA-style billing, each period's amounts come from the G702 Application and Certificate for Payment, which shows work completed to date, retainage, previous payments and the current payment due. See the G702/G703 worked example and the retainage guide.

1. With the pay application: the subcontractor or supplier sends a conditional progress waiver for the amount of this payment, through the billing date.
2. Before paying: check the waiver type, amount, through date, project and signature, and that it uses the statutory form where one applies.
3. At payment: release the payment against the verified conditional waiver.
4. After the funds clear: collect an unconditional progress waiver for the amount received, through the same date. Many payers make it a condition of the next payment.
5. At closeout: the same exchange happens with conditional and then unconditional final waivers, usually alongside the retention release.

In Georgia and Mississippi, where the statutory waiver is not split into conditional and unconditional versions, a claimant who signs and is not paid has to file an Affidavit of Nonpayment within the statutory window: otherwise, in Georgia the waiver becomes effective 90 days after signing, and in Mississippi the amount is conclusively deemed paid 60 days after signing.

Missouri's only statutory form is an unconditional final waiver for residential property, so it has no progress form. Statute citations and the full rules for each state are in lien waiver forms by state. Elsewhere, our free templates include a conditional progress waiver and an unconditional progress waiver.

• Unconditional before funds clear. The claimant can lose lien rights for money it never received. In Texas, requiring it is prohibited.
• Through-date gaps. When an unconditional waiver never arrives for one payment, that period rests on a conditional release while later months look complete. Check that every paid period has its unconditional waiver, through the same date as the conditional one.
• Wrong amount. A waiver for the gross billing when the payment is net of retention, or for a figure that does not match the check, is hard to rely on. Match the amount to the payment it is exchanged for.
• Treating a conditional waiver as final proof. Without the matching unconditional waiver, the file shows a release that depended on a payment you have not proved cleared.
• Missing sub-tier waivers. Your direct subcontractor's waiver does not release its suppliers' or sub-subcontractors' rights.
• Ignoring the exceptions line. A claimant that leaves a disputed change order off the exceptions risks waiving it; a payer that does not read the exceptions does not know what is still open.
• Using a generic form in a statutory-form state. In Arizona, California, Georgia, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada and Texas the statutory form is mandatory.

A working waiver log has, for each subcontractor and supplier on each job:

• The pay application or invoice and the payment amount after retention.
• The conditional waiver received: amount, through date, form, who checked it.
• The payment date and whether the funds have cleared.
• The unconditional waiver received for that payment, and when.
• Open exceptions, retention held, and any sub-tier waivers required.

A spreadsheet can list these, but it cannot stop a payment going out before the waiver is in. With waiver enforcement on in Aequo Build, a payment started from Aequo gets a conditional progress waiver requirement for the net amount payable after retainage, through the invoice date, and is held until a reviewer verifies a waiver that covers it or an approver records an override with a reason. Once the invoice is fully paid, whether marked paid in Aequo or paid in QuickBooks Online, Aequo requests the matching unconditional waiver. Payments made outside Aequo are not held, and sub-tier waivers are not tracked. The collection workflow guide covers the full process and its limits, and the lien-waiver risk assessment scores your current controls. For notarization rules, see does a lien waiver need to be notarized.