The Florida partial lien release form is the one-page “Waiver and Release of Lien Upon Progress Payment” set out word-for-word in Florida Statute 713.20(4). A contractor, subcontractor, or supplier signs it to release lien rights for work already paid, while keeping lien rights alive for retainage and anything furnished after the through-date. Fill in six blanks, notarize it, and record it with the clerk in the county where the property sits. The whole thing takes about five minutes, but the dollar amount and the through-date decide how much protection you keep, so slow down on those two.
Use the Progress Payment Form, Not the Final Payment Form
Section 713.20 contains two statutory waivers. Subsection 4 is the progress-payment version and releases lien rights only for labor, services, and materials furnished through a specific date, preserving your rights to retainage and to anything furnished after that date. Subsection 5 is the final-payment version and releases everything on the project. If work or retainage is still outstanding, the progress form is the correct one.
Subsection 6 prohibits anyone from requiring a lienor to sign a waiver that differs from these two statutory templates. If an owner or general contractor hands you a custom form with broader waiver language, you can refuse and insist on the statutory version. One caution: subsection 8 makes a non-conforming waiver enforceable according to its own terms once you sign it, so the protection only works if you push back before you sign.
Filling In the Six Blanks
The statutory form has six fields. Take them in order.
- Sum of $___. Enter the exact dollar amount of the progress payment you are receiving. Pull the figure from the current pay application or invoice, not from a running project total. This number defines the scope of what you are releasing; anything beyond it stays protected.
- Through (date). The cutoff date up to which your labor, services, and materials are covered by this payment. Usually the billing period end date on your pay application. Work performed after this date remains lienable.
- Name of your customer. The party who hired you directly. For a subcontractor, that is usually the general contractor; for a supplier, it may be the sub who placed the order. Use the exact legal name from your contract.
- Name of the owner. The property owner’s legal name as it appears on the notice of commencement or the recorded deed.
- Description of property. Copy the legal description verbatim from the original claim of lien, the notice of commencement, or the recorded deed. A street address alone is not enough; you need the lot-and-block reference or the full metes-and-bounds description. A wrong lot number or a transposed bearing can cause a title company to reject the release.
- Date and signature. Sign and date on the “(Lienor)” line. A “By:” line is provided when someone signs on behalf of a company.
The form’s final printed line reads: “This waiver and release does not cover any retention or labor, services, or materials furnished after the date specified.” That sentence is what makes the release partial rather than final. It is already in the statutory template. Do not delete it or modify it.
Conditioning the Release on a Check Clearing
If you are being paid by check rather than wire or ACH, Section 713.20(7) lets you condition the waiver on the check actually being paid by the bank. If the check bounces, the release never took effect and your lien rights remain intact.
To use this protection, add a written condition to the form. Simple language works: “This waiver is conditioned upon actual receipt and clearance of payment.” One trade-off to know about: when no payment bond protects the owner, the owner can hold back the amount of any conditional check from payments to the general contractor until the condition is satisfied.
Formatting the Document So the Clerk Will Accept It
Before the release can be recorded, it has to meet the formatting rules for instruments affecting real property in Section 695.26. County clerks reject documents that do not comply, so check these items before you go to the courthouse or upload through an e-recording portal.
- Each signer’s name printed, typewritten, or stamped directly beneath the signature, along with a post-office address.
- The name and address of the person who prepared the document (or supervised its preparation) on the face of the instrument.
- If witnesses sign, their names and addresses printed beneath their signatures in the same manner.
- The notary’s name printed beneath the notary signature and seal.
- A 3-inch by 3-inch blank space in the top right corner of the first page, and a 1-inch by 3-inch blank space in the top right corner of every additional page, for the clerk’s recording stamp.
A notarized lienor signature is the standard expectation. Section 713.21(2) requires that a satisfaction or release recorded in the clerk’s office include the lienor’s notarized signature and reference the official records number and recording date of the original lien. Identify the original claim of lien by its clerk file number or book-and-page reference so the clerk can connect the release to the correct recorded lien.
Where to Record and What It Costs
Submit the signed, notarized, correctly formatted release to the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county where the property sits. You can walk it into the clerk’s recording office or use an e-recording portal. Most Florida counties accept electronic submissions through third-party e-recording vendors, which typically return a recorded copy within 24 hours.
Recording fees are set by Florida Statute 28.24 and are uniform across all 67 counties. For a standard-sized instrument (no larger than 14 by 8.5 inches), the fee is $10.00 for the first page and $8.50 for each additional page. A typical one-page partial release costs $10.00 to record. Bring exact change if paying in person; some clerk offices do not make change or accept credit cards for small transactions.
Once the clerk processes the document, it receives an official records reference number (or a book-and-page number in counties still using that system). Keep a certified copy for your files and send a copy to the property owner, the general contractor, or the title company that requested the release. Anyone can verify the recording later by searching the county’s official records database using the owner’s name or the instrument number.
Why You Keep Being Asked for These
The reason partial releases show up on every draw is construction lending. Before a lender funds a draw request, its underwriting team reviews a documentation package that includes lien waivers from every contractor and supplier who worked during the billing period. Missing or inconsistent waivers are one of the most common reasons draw funding gets held up, because an unwaived lien could take priority over the construction mortgage.
Title companies work the same way. Before issuing a title update or endorsement during construction, the title company needs recorded partial releases confirming that all parties have been paid through the relevant date. A gap in the waiver chain, such as a missing release from a concrete supplier, can delay a closing or trigger a title exception.
A Partial Release Is Not a Full Discharge
A partial release reduces an existing lien by a specific dollar amount or through a specific date. It does not remove the lien from the record. If the goal is to eliminate the lien altogether, Section 713.21 provides separate methods: a marginal satisfaction signed on the original recorded lien and witnessed by the clerk; a recorded notarized satisfaction referencing the original lien’s official records number and recording date; automatic expiration if the lienor fails to file suit within the time limit set by Chapter 713; or a court order after a show-cause complaint. If what you actually need is a discharge rather than a progress-payment release, use one of those routes instead of the 713.20(4) form.