Which states require a lien waiver form?
12 states require a specific statutory lien waiver form: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. The other 39, including Washington DC, don't publish a required form, but each still sets its own rules for when a waiver actually holds up. Check your state in the table below before you send the wrong one.
Which states require a statutory lien waiver form?
Out of 50 states, 12 write the waiver's exact wording into law: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. Send anything other than that state's prescribed form and you risk a waiver that doesn't hold up.
Most of these states split the form two ways: conditional versus unconditional, and progress versus final payment. Miss the notice language on the unconditional forms and the whole document can fail, even if every other line is correct.
What happens if you use the wrong lien waiver form?
In the 12 statutory-form states, a waiver only works if it substantially matches the language the legislature wrote. California, Texas, and Arizona call a non-conforming waiver void on its face. Georgia voids any form that drops the required notice. Michigan calls it invalid. In every case, the subcontractor keeps lien rights the general contractor thought they'd bought with a payment.
The second common mistake isn't the form itself, it's the timing. Sending the unconditional version before a check clears gives up lien rights for a payment that hasn't landed yet. If the check bounces, the subcontractor has no recourse. That mistake shows up across nearly every state in the table below, statutory or not.
Lien waiver requirements for every state
All 50 states, plus Washington DC, in one table. Sort alphabetically or pull the statutory-form states to the top, then jump straight to that state's full guide.
| State | Requires statutory form | Statute | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama (AL) | No | Ala. Code §35-11-210 | |
| Alaska (AK) | No | AS §34.35.117 | |
| Arizona (AZ) | Yes | A.R.S. §33-1008 | |
| Arkansas (AR) | No | Ark. Code §18-44-101 | |
| California (CA) | Yes | Civil Code §8132–§8138 | |
| Colorado (CO) | No | C.R.S. §38-22-101 | |
| Connecticut (CT) | No | C.G.S. §49-33 | |
| Delaware (DE) | No | 25 Del. C. §2706 | |
| Florida (FL) | Yes | §713.20 | |
| Georgia (GA) | Yes | O.C.G.A. §44-14-366 | |
| Hawaii (HI) | No | HRS §507-41 | |
| Idaho (ID) | No | Idaho Code §45-501 | |
| Illinois (IL) | No | 770 ILCS 60 | |
| Indiana (IN) | No | IC §32-28-3-16 | |
| Iowa (IA) | No | Iowa Code §572.27 | |
| Kansas (KS) | No | K.S.A. §60-1101 | |
| Kentucky (KY) | No | KRS Chapter 376 | |
| Louisiana (LA) | No | La. R.S. §9:4801 | |
| Maine (ME) | No | 10 M.R.S. §3251 | |
| Maryland (MD) | No | Md. Real Prop. §9-101 | |
| Massachusetts (MA) | Yes | M.G.L. c.254 §32 | |
| Michigan (MI) | Yes | MCL §570.1115 | |
| Minnesota (MN) | No | Minn. Stat. §514.07 | |
| Mississippi (MS) | Yes | Miss. Code §85-7-433 | |
| Missouri (MO) | Yes | Mo. Rev. Stat. §429.016 | |
| Montana (MT) | No | MCA §71-3-521 | |
| Nebraska (NE) | No | Neb. Rev. Stat. §52-144 | |
| Nevada (NV) | Yes | NRS §108.2457 | |
| New Hampshire (NH) | No | RSA Chapter 447 | |
| New Jersey (NJ) | No | N.J.S.A. §2A:44A-1 | |
| New Mexico (NM) | No | N.M.S.A. §48-2-1 | |
| New York (NY) | No | Lien Law Article 2 | |
| North Carolina (NC) | No | N.C.G.S. §22B-5 | |
| North Dakota (ND) | No | N.D.C.C. §35-27 | |
| Ohio (OH) | No | ORC Chapter 1311 | |
| Oklahoma (OK) | No | 42 O.S. §141 | |
| Oregon (OR) | No | O.R.S. §87.001 | |
| Pennsylvania (PA) | No | 49 P.S. §1401 | |
| Rhode Island (RI) | No | R.I. §34-28 | |
| South Carolina (SC) | No | S.C. Code §29-5-10 | |
| South Dakota (SD) | No | SDCL Chapter 44-9 | |
| Tennessee (TN) | No | T.C.A. §66-11-124 | |
| Texas (TX) | Yes | §53.281–§53.287 | |
| Utah (UT) | Yes | Utah Code §38-1a-802 | |
| Vermont (VT) | No | 9 V.S.A. §1921 | |
| Virginia (VA) | No | Va. Code §43-3 | |
| Washington (WA) | No | RCW 60.04 | |
| Washington DC (DC) | No | §40-301.01 | |
| West Virginia (WV) | No | W. Va. Code §38-2-1 | |
| Wisconsin (WI) | No | Wis. Stat. §779.05 | |
| Wyoming (WY) | Yes | Wyo. Stat. §29-10-101 |
Which states have no lien waiver form requirement?
39 states, plus Washington DC, don't write a lien waiver form into law. Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and 35 others let you use a plain-language waiver instead of a prescribed form.
"No form requirement" doesn't mean the wording doesn't matter. Courts in these states still expect the waiver to name the claimant, the project, the through-date, and the dollar amount, and to say plainly whether the release is conditional or unconditional. A vague blanket waiver gets read narrowly against whoever wrote it.
Frequently asked questions
12 states require a specific statutory lien waiver form: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. Every other state, plus Washington DC, doesn't publish a required form, but each still sets its own rules for when a waiver becomes enforceable.
Related tools and guides
Every state lien waiver guide
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Retainage calculator
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Free lien waiver audit
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Retainage, explained
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AIA G702 and G703, explained
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Conditional vs. unconditional lien waivers
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The Waiver Inbox, explained
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