California lien waiver forms, free and on the statutory wording
California is one of the states where the wording is not up to you. Civil Code sections 8132 through 8138 set out four forms, one for each combination of progress or final and conditional or unconditional, and a waiver that does not follow them does not release anything.
A California waiver is only effective if it is on one of the four statutory forms. Civil Code 8122 also makes any attempt to waive lien rights in advance, in the contract or anywhere else, void.
Read the law: California Civil Code sections 8132, 8134, 8136 and 8138leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
Fill it in online Type your details in and download it already filled in.Download a blank California form
Word for word from Civil Code 8132 to 8138. Print it and fill it in by hand, or use the builder below and get it back already filled in.
Free, no signup, no email, no watermark.
Which of the California forms you need
- Conditional Waiver and Release on Progress Payment. You are being asked to sign before the progress payment clears. This one only takes effect once the check is actually paid by the bank, so if the check bounces you still have your lien.
- Unconditional Waiver and Release on Progress Payment. The progress payment is already in your account. Signing this gives up your rights for that payment with no condition attached, so never sign it while the money is still in the mail.
- Conditional Waiver and Release on Final Payment. The final payment has been offered but has not cleared. This releases everything once the check is paid, and not a moment sooner.
- Unconditional Waiver and Release on Final Payment. The final payment has cleared. This is the end of your lien rights on the job, so check the amount against your own ledger before it is signed.
Not signing a waiver yet? In California the waiver only matters if the lien right is still alive, and section 8200(c) makes a preliminary notice a necessary prerequisite to the validity of a lien claim or a stop payment notice. Section 8204(a) gives you 20 days from the day you first furnished work. You can fill that one in here too.
Which of the four you are being handed
Two questions decide it. Is this the last payment on the job, or one along the way? And has the money actually arrived, or has a check only been offered? Final plus cleared money is 8138, the unconditional waiver on final payment, and it is the one that ends your rights completely.
The conditional forms, 8132 and 8136, carry their own safety net. They say in terms that the release only becomes effective when the check has been endorsed and paid by the bank. If the check is returned, the waiver never took effect and your lien survives.
The notice at the top is part of the form
Both unconditional forms open with a block of capitals warning the signer that this document waives rights unconditionally. That notice is in the statute, not decoration, and the form is printed here with it in place.
If somebody hands you a California unconditional waiver with the notice shrunk, deleted or buried, that is the moment to slow down rather than sign.
What it does not cover
A California waiver reaches lien rights, stop payment notice rights and payment bond rights. It does not reach your right to sue on the contract for money you are still owed, and it does not reach anything after the through date you write in.
Get the through date right. It is the single field on a progress waiver that decides how much of your work you just gave up.
Questions people ask
Does a California lien waiver have to be notarized?
No. Civil Code 8132 through 8138 require a signature, not a notary. A customer is free to ask for one anyway, and there is no harm in it, but the statute does not make the waiver depend on it.
Can my contract say I waive lien rights up front?
No. Civil Code 8122 makes an advance waiver void. A clause in the subcontract saying you give up lien rights before you have done the work does not do anything.
The customer sent their own waiver form. Do I have to use it?
You do not have to sign anything. But note that in California a waiver that does not follow the statutory form is not effective, which cuts both ways: it does not release your lien, and the customer may hold payment until they get one that does. Sending back the statutory form usually ends the argument.
Is a conditional waiver safe to sign before the check clears?
That is exactly what it is for. The conditional forms say the release becomes effective when the check is paid by the bank. Until then nothing has been given up.
Working outside California? The general lien waiver forms cover the states that prescribe no wording, and conditional vs unconditional lien waiver explains which of the two to sign.