Alaska lien waiver: binding with no consideration at all, and most charts get this wrong
Fifty state charts file Alaska in the prohibited column. Read AS 34.35.117 and it says close to the opposite: a written waiver requires no consideration and is valid and binding. What Alaska limits is not when you sign, it is how far the paper can reach.
In Alaska a written lien waiver needs no consideration and is valid and binding, but it cannot reach labor, materials, services or equipment furnished after the date it was signed. A person who actually performs the labor cannot waive at all.
Read the law: AS 34.35.117codes.findlaw.com
AS 34.35.117, word for wordFill it in online Type your details in and download it already filled in.Except as provided under (b) of this section, a written waiver of lien or stop-lending notice of rights created under AS 34.35.050--34.35.120 signed by a claimant requires no consideration and is valid and binding. A waiver permitted under this section may not relate to labor, materials, services, or equipment furnished after the date the waiver is signed by the claimant.
Two sentences, two different rules. The first makes the waiver binding whether or not you were paid a cent for it. The second is the only thing holding it back, and it is a date limit, not a payment limit.
Download a blank Alaska lien waiver
Alaska prescribes no statutory wording, so this is the general conditional waiver on progress payment, the form that fits most draws. Print it and fill it in by hand, or use the builder below and get it back already filled in.
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The dangerous document in Alaska is not the early one, it is the broad one
In a state like New Jersey or Virginia, a waiver signed too early is void and the reader is rescued by the statute. Alaska does not rescue anybody. A written waiver signed by a claimant is binding and requires no consideration, which means it works even if no money ever changed hands for it.
What the statute takes away is future reach. A waiver cannot relate to labor, materials, services or equipment furnished after the date the claimant signed it. So the protection Alaska gives you is the signature date, and nothing else.
The practical consequence is a paperwork discipline rather than a legal argument. Date every waiver you sign, keep the copy, and never sign one dated forward. In Alaska the date on the form is the whole of the statutory limit.
The one class that cannot waive at all
Subsection (b) says an individual described in AS 34.35.120(10) may not waive the right to claim a lien, and a waiver that purports to waive that person's rights is void. That definition is worth reading, because it is narrower than people assume.
AS 34.35.120(10) defines an individual as a natural person who actually performs labor upon a building or other improvement as an employee of the owner or of any contractor. That is the worker on the payroll. A subcontracting company is not an individual under that definition, so subsection (b) does not save it.
So on an Alaska job the employee swinging the hammer cannot sign away a lien. The company that employs him can, and the waiver binds.
The cheapest thing you can do on an Alaska job is not a waiver, it is a notice
AS 34.35.064 is optional and that is why it gets skipped. It says a person may give a notice of right to lien to the owner or the owner's agent before furnishing labor, material, service or equipment, and nothing in the chapter makes the lien itself depend on having sent one.
What the notice buys is the burden of proof, and that is worth more than it sounds. Give it in accordance with the section and the owner carries the burden of showing that they did not know of or consent to your work when you foreclose under AS 34.35.050 to 34.35.120. Do not give it and the burden is yours: you have to prove the owner knew and consented. Same lien, opposite starting position, decided by a stamp.
The section prescribes contents rather than a form, which is why there is no Alaska notice to download on this site. It requires seven things: a legal description sufficient to identify the property, the name of the owner, your own name and address, the name and address of the person you contracted with, a general description of what you are furnishing, a statement that you may be entitled to record a claim of lien, and one paragraph of fixed language.
That paragraph is the only wording Alaska hands you and it has to be reproduced word for word, in type no smaller than the type used for the other six items: WARNING: Unless provision is made for payment of sums that may be due to the undersigned, your above property may be subject to foreclosure to satisfy those sums even though you may pay a prime contractor or other person for the labor, material, service, or equipment furnished by the undersigned.
One duty comes attached to sending it. Under AS 34.35.064(b) an owner, lender or prime contractor can ask a claimant who has given the notice for an accounting, and the claimant has five days to hand over the most recent amount due and unpaid under the contract and a description of what they reasonably expect to furnish next.
Why this page disagrees with the chart you probably saw
Alaska is the clearest case on this site of why every state gets read off its own statute rather than copied from a survey. The surveys put Alaska with the prohibited states, and the section says a waiver requires no consideration and is valid and binding.
The mistake is understandable. Subsection (b) does contain an absolute prohibition, and a summary that reads only as far as the word void gets the wrong end of it. Subsection (b) is the laborer carve out. Subsection (a) is the rule.
Which of the four to sign on an Alaska job
The statute here does not condition the waiver on payment, so the form has to do it instead. A conditional waiver states in terms that it takes effect when the payment clears, which is the protection the statute leaves out.
Questions people ask
Does Alaska void a lien waiver signed before payment?
No. AS 34.35.117(a) says a written waiver signed by a claimant requires no consideration and is valid and binding. Alaska does not make payment a condition of the waiver working.
What does an Alaska lien waiver not cover?
Anything furnished after the date it was signed. AS 34.35.117(a) says a waiver may not relate to labor, materials, services or equipment furnished after the signature date, so work performed the following week is still lienable.
Who cannot waive a lien in Alaska?
An individual as defined in AS 34.35.120(10), meaning a natural person who actually performs labor on the improvement as an employee of the owner or a contractor. A waiver purporting to waive that person's lien rights is void under AS 34.35.117(b). A subcontracting company is not covered by that definition.
Do I have to send a notice of right to lien in Alaska?
No. AS 34.35.064(a) says a person may give one, and the lien does not depend on it. What it changes is who has to prove what. Give the notice and the owner carries the burden of showing they did not know of or consent to the work. Skip it and you carry the burden of showing they did.
What has to be in an Alaska notice of right to lien?
Seven things under AS 34.35.064(a): a legal description of the property, the owner's name, your name and address, the name and address of whoever you contracted with, a general description of what you are furnishing, a statement that you may be entitled to record a claim of lien, and a fixed WARNING paragraph reproduced in type no smaller than the rest. The statute prescribes no layout, only contents, so there is no Alaska notice form on this site to fill in.
Which waiver form should I use on an Alaska job?
A conditional waiver with the amount and the through date filled in. Because the statute makes a written waiver binding without consideration, the form is the only thing that ties your release to the payment actually clearing.
Working in another state? The general lien waiver forms page covers all four waiver types, and conditional vs unconditional lien waiver explains which of the two to sign and when.
This page quotes AS 34.35.117 and explains what it says. It is not legal advice, and a statute can be amended. Read the linked section before you rely on it.