Partial Release of Lien in Florida: Statutory Form and Rules

A partial release of lien in Florida is the document a contractor, subcontractor, or supplier signs when accepting a progress payment: it reduces the lien by the amount received while keeping the rest of the balance secured against the property. Florida Statute 713.20 sets the form and rules, and Section 713.06 makes providing one mandatory once payment has been received. The form looks simple. The details on it are where lien rights get lost.

What Section 713.20 Allows and Forbids

Section 713.20 lets any lienor release part of a construction lien at any time. The release can reduce the dollar amount owed, cover work performed through a specific date, or apply to only a portion of the property.¹ That flexibility lets the release track however the parties structured their payment schedule.

One protection is not negotiable. Lien rights cannot be waived in advance. A lienor can only release rights for work already performed or materials already delivered, and any contract clause attempting to force an advance waiver is unenforceable.¹ General contractors sometimes slip that kind of language into subcontracts anyway. Those provisions are void on arrival.

Conditional or Unconditional Release

This is where the biggest practical risk lives. An unconditional release takes effect the moment the lienor signs it, regardless of whether the check has cleared. If the payment bounces, the lienor has already surrendered lien rights for that amount and is left chasing an ordinary collections claim.

A conditional release avoids that. Under Section 713.20(7), a lienor who receives a check can condition the release on actual payment of that check.¹ If the check is returned for insufficient funds, the conditional release never becomes effective and the lien rights remain intact. Subcontractors and suppliers should default to conditional releases unless they have a strong reason to trust immediate payment.

What the Statutory Form Must Contain

The progress payment form under Section 713.20(4) requires these fields:¹

The exact dollar amount received in the current payment.
The through date, meaning the cutoff for work covered by this release. Everything furnished through that date is released; everything after it stays lienable.
The customer name, meaning the party who made the payment (general contractor, subcontractor, or owner).
The property owner’s name.
A legal description of the property, not just a street address. The lot, block, and subdivision are typically on the Notice of Commencement or the deed.
The lienor’s or authorized agent’s signature and date.

The through date is the field to slow down on. Enter a date beyond the last day you were actually paid for, and you have released lien rights on work performed for free. The statutory form itself includes a built-in safeguard stating that the release does not cover retention or any work furnished after the specified date.¹ That language protects against some errors. It does not fix a through date that is wrong by weeks or months.

Protecting Disputed Amounts With Exceptions

Section 713.20(3) allows a lienor to specify exceptions at the time of release.¹ This is a powerful and underused tool. When there is a dispute about whether certain work falls within the current payment application, the lienor can execute a partial release for the undisputed amount while carving out the contested items.

Take a plumbing subcontractor who receives a progress payment covering rough-in work but excluding a disputed change order for an upgraded fixture package. The subcontractor can sign the partial release for the amount received and note the change order as an exception. Without that exception, the release could be read to cover all work through the specified date, including the disputed items. Lienors accepting partial payment on contested invoices should always document their exceptions in writing on the release itself.

Statutory Form vs. Custom Waiver

Section 713.20 provides two template forms: one for progress payments (subsection 4) and one for final payment (subsection 5). No one can require a lienor to use a different form.¹ General contractors and owners sometimes present custom waiver forms with broader language than the statute contemplates. A lienor handed a non-statutory form always has the right to insist on the statutory version instead.

Section 713.20(8) adds an important wrinkle. If a lienor voluntarily signs a non-statutory form, it is enforceable according to its own terms.¹ The protection is the right to refuse a non-standard form, not immunity from one you actually sign. Read carefully before signing anything that does not match the statutory template.

When a Lienor Must Provide a Release

Providing a partial release is not optional once payment has been received. Section 713.06 requires lienors who receive money to execute partial releases to the extent of the payment.² Refusing to provide one after being paid creates legal exposure and can stall the project.

The Notice to Owner form prescribed by Section 713.06 states the same rule from the owner’s side, warning the property owner: “To avoid a lien and paying twice, you must obtain a written release from us every time you pay your contractor.”² Owners who skip this step risk paying a general contractor in full and then discovering that unpaid subcontractors still have lien rights against the property. Collecting a partial release with every progress payment is the simplest way to prevent that outcome.

Notarization and Recording

A partial release exchanged between the parties during the course of a project does not need to be notarized to be valid. Florida law does not require notarization for statutory lien waivers used during progress payments. Notarization becomes necessary only when a satisfaction or release is being recorded against a previously recorded claim of lien in the official records; Section 713.21 requires the lienor’s notarized signature for that filing, and the recorded document must reference the original lien’s official records number and recording date.³ For most progress payment releases exchanged during construction, no clerk filing is involved and no notary is needed.

If the Payer Files Bankruptcy

Partial releases signed shortly before a bankruptcy filing can face a second look. Under federal bankruptcy law, a trustee can claw back payments made within 90 days before the bankruptcy filing if those payments qualify as avoidable preferences.⁴ The trustee must show the payment was made on account of a pre-existing debt, that the debtor was insolvent, and that the payment let the creditor receive more than it would have in a Chapter 7 liquidation.

Construction lienors have a defense worth knowing. If the lienor held valid lien rights when payment was made, the progress payment may not have delivered anything more than what the lienor would have recovered through a lien foreclosure anyway. Courts examine whether the creditor’s security interest was already established, which can defeat the “received more” element.

There is also the automatic stay. Once a bankruptcy petition is filed, most collection and enforcement actions freeze. Section 362(b)(3) carves out an exception allowing a creditor to perfect a lien interest, including recording a construction lien, even after the stay takes effect, as long as the creditor complies with state-law recording deadlines.⁵ Recording a lien is permitted; filing a foreclosure lawsuit to enforce it is not, unless the bankruptcy court grants relief from the stay. A contractor who learns a project owner has filed for bankruptcy should record any unperfected lien claims immediately and consult a bankruptcy attorney before taking any further enforcement step.

1
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 713.20 – Waiver or Release of Liens
2
Florida Senate. Florida Code 713.06 – Liens for Labor, Services, and Materials
3
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 713.21 – Discharge of Lien
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 547 – Preferences
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 362 – Automatic Stay