A Georgia lien release form clears a satisfied lien off your property’s title, and the right form depends on what kind of lien you are releasing. A paid-off mortgage uses a satisfaction or cancellation of security deed under O.C.G.A. § 44-14-3. A construction lien uses the statutory cancellation form in O.C.G.A. § 44-14-362 or, for the claim of lien itself, expires on its own timeline. State and federal tax liens are released by the taxing agency, not by you. Every one of these documents is filed with the Clerk of Superior Court in the Georgia county where the property is located.
Which Release Form You Need
Start by identifying the lien. The land records at the county clerk’s office will show the recorded instrument and tell you who holds it.
Security Deed or Mortgage
Georgia does not prescribe a single statutory form for cancelling a security deed. Lenders use their own satisfaction or cancellation documents, and the information required is consistent across them: the names of the grantor and grantee (borrower and lender), the legal description of the property, the original recording date, and the Deed Book and Page where the security deed was recorded.
Under O.C.G.A. § 44-14-3, the lender or loan servicer has 60 days from full payoff to transmit a legally sufficient cancellation to the Clerk of Superior Court where the security deed is recorded.1Justia. Georgia Code 44-14-3 – Furnishing of Cancellation by Grantee or Holder Upon Payment; Liability for Failure to Comply; Cancellation of Instrument After Failure to Comply; Liability of Agents Within that same window, the lender must mail you written notice confirming the cancellation was sent and informing you of your right to demand $500 in liquidated damages if it missed the deadline. In most cases, you will not prepare this form yourself. If the lender has gone out of business or stopped responding, an attorney can draft an affidavit under § 44-14-3 that lets the clerk cancel the security deed without the lender’s cooperation.2Georgia Department of Banking and Finance. Release of Security Deed (Mortgage)
Preliminary Notice of Lien Rights
A subcontractor or supplier who filed a preliminary notice of lien rights must cancel it within 10 days of receiving final payment. The cancellation follows a short statutory form directed to the Clerk of the Superior Court, identifying the property owner, the date the preliminary notice was filed, and the Book and Page number where it was recorded.3Justia. Georgia Code 44-14-362 – Cancellation of Preliminary Notice Upon Final Payment; Form of Cancellation Some county clerks publish their own templates, but the statutory form is all that is legally required.
Claim of Lien (Mechanics or Materialmen’s Lien)
Once a contractor or supplier files an actual claim of lien, Georgia does not impose a specific statutory duty to record a cancellation after payment. A paid claimant should voluntarily file one, and most do, but there is no prescribed form. In practice, the cancellation document references the recorded claim of lien by Book and Page and states that the debt has been satisfied. If the claimant will not cooperate, the primary remedy is expiration, covered below.
State and Federal Tax Liens
You do not file a release form for a tax lien yourself. The Georgia Department of Revenue cancels a state tax execution once the debt is resolved, marking an entry of satisfaction on the execution docket and recording the cancellation with the Clerk of Superior Court in each county where it was filed.4Georgia Department of Revenue. Liens Payoff information is available through the SOLVED search in the Georgia Tax Center at gtc.dor.ga.gov without a power of attorney. The Department does not report state tax liens to credit bureaus and will not contact them for you, so you need to send proof of satisfaction to the bureaus directly.
The IRS releases a federal tax lien within 30 days after the tax debt is paid in full, including penalties, interest, and fees, and issues a Certificate of Release of Federal Tax Lien that it files with the appropriate recording office.5Internal Revenue Service. Understanding a Federal Tax Lien
Filling Out and Signing the Form
Whatever form you use, the content has to match the recorded lien exactly. Pull the original filing from the land records and copy the Book and Page, recording date, and names as they appear there. A typo in the Book and Page can leave the cancellation unlinked to the original lien in the county’s index.
Georgia requires that a deed or instrument conveying an interest in real property be attested by two witnesses, one of whom may be a notary public. For a lien cancellation, that usually means signing in front of a notary (who counts as one witness) plus one additional witness. The notary’s seal and acknowledgment verify the signer’s identity for the recording system.
Confirm that the county name on the form matches the county where the property sits. Filing in the wrong county will be rejected, and the fix is to start over in the correct one.
Recording the Release With the Clerk
Submit the completed, signed form to the Clerk of Superior Court in the county where the property is located. You can deliver it in person or by mail; if you mail it, include a self-addressed stamped envelope so the clerk can return a file-stamped copy. Many counties also accept filings through the GSCCCA Authority eFile Portal, which takes credit card, ACH transfer, or escrow account payment. A 3.5% transaction fee applies to credit card payments.6Georgia Superior Court Clerks’ Cooperative Authority. Real Estate Forms Online
Under O.C.G.A. § 15-6-77, the recording fee for a lien cancellation, release, or satisfaction is $25 per instrument. If one document cancels more than one lien, you pay $25 for each lien being cancelled.7Justia. Georgia Code 15-6-77 – Fees Tax lien cancellations filed by government agencies carry a lower fee of $5 for the first page plus $2 per additional page and $2 per previously filed lien referenced.
Once the clerk records the cancellation, request a file-stamped copy for your records. The clerk indexes the filing and links it to the original lien in the county’s land records. You can verify the update by searching the GSCCCA statewide index, though the new status may take a few business days to appear.
When the Lienholder Won’t File a Release
If the party holding the lien has been paid and still has not recorded a cancellation, Georgia gives you several ways to force the issue.
Mortgage Lender Missed the 60-Day Deadline
Send a written demand for the $500 in liquidated damages allowed under O.C.G.A. § 44-14-3. The demand cannot go out until at least 61 days after the loan was paid in full. If the lender still does not act, you can sue to recover the $500 plus actual losses and reasonable attorney fees, but you must first give the lender at least 15 business days’ written notice at the address where it directs payments.1Justia. Georgia Code 44-14-3 – Furnishing of Cancellation by Grantee or Holder Upon Payment; Liability for Failure to Comply; Cancellation of Instrument After Failure to Comply; Liability of Agents For a lender that has become permanently unresponsive, the attorney affidavit route lets the clerk cancel the security deed without the lender’s signature.
Preliminary Notice Still on Record
If a subcontractor or supplier filed a preliminary notice but never followed up with a claim of lien, send a demand by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery. If 10 days pass with no lien claim filed, you or your attorney can file an affidavit confirming the demand was sent and the deadline passed, and the clerk will cancel the preliminary notice on record.8Justia. Georgia Code 44-14-361.4 – Cancellation or Expiration of Preliminary Notice A claimant who fails to cancel a preliminary notice within 10 days of final payment is also liable to the owner for actual damages, costs, and reasonable attorney fees.
Claim of Lien That the Claimant Won’t Cancel
A filed claim of lien becomes unenforceable if the claimant does not file suit to collect the debt and record a statutory notice of commencement of lien action within 365 days of recording the lien. If neither happens within 395 days, the lien can be disregarded.9Justia. Georgia Code 44-14-367 – Notice; Required Statement If you cannot wait a year, you can file a contest of lien under O.C.G.A. § 44-14-368, which shortens the claimant’s enforcement window to 60 days. For an owner trying to sell or refinance quickly, a contest of lien is often the most practical tool.
Even an expired lien can be a problem at closing. Title companies and buyers sometimes insist on a recorded cancellation or court order before they will proceed, and in that case you may need an attorney to pursue a quiet title action or obtain a court order confirming the lien expired.
Lien Releases Are Not Lien Waivers
If you are looking for a form to sign in exchange for a payment rather than to clear a filed lien, you want a lien waiver, not a release. A lien waiver is a document a contractor or supplier signs to give up future lien rights; a lien release removes a lien that was already filed. Georgia prescribes two statutory waiver forms under O.C.G.A. § 44-14-366: an interim waiver for progress payments and a final waiver for the last payment.10FindLaw. Georgia Code 44-14-366 Both are conditional on actually receiving the stated payment, and a contractor who signs one but is never paid has 90 days to file an Affidavit of Nonpayment or the waiver becomes unconditional and binding.