Mississippi Lien Waiver & Release — The Statutory Forms and the 60-Day Deemed-Paid Rule (§ 85-7-433, 2026)
✓ Verified against Mississippi statutes · Reviewed August 2026 · By Michael Evan — Founder · 50 states · 799 rules
Mississippi mechanics lien deadlines at a glance
Preliminary Notice
None (owner) — Sub: pre-notice
Mechanics Lien
12 months — From last date of furnishing
Enforcement
1 year — From filing
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What a Mississippi Lien Waiver Is and Why It Behaves Differently Than Every Other State
A lien waiver and release is the document a contractor, subcontractor, or supplier signs to give up lien rights in exchange for a payment. Mississippi standardizes that document in Miss. Code Ann. § 85-7-433, part of the 2014 overhaul that rebuilt Mississippi's lien law along the lines of Georgia's scheme. A Mississippi waiver must substantially follow the statutory form, though the statute is forgiving about mechanics: failure to correctly complete a blank space does not automatically invalidate the form if the subject matter of the release reasonably may be determined. What makes Mississippi genuinely different is not the forms but the clock. In California, Michigan, and Texas, a claimant protects itself by choosing the conditional form: if the check never clears, the release simply never takes effect, and it never will. Mississippi supplies no such permanent safety net. A § 85-7-433 waiver is effectively conditional for sixty days and then converts itself into an unconditional release by operation of law, whether or not the claimant was ever paid, unless the claimant affirmatively acts. That single mechanism reorganizes how a claimant has to work in Mississippi: signing the right form is necessary but nowhere near sufficient, and the controlling task is calendar discipline.
The Mississippi Statutory Forms in Section 85-7-433
Section 85-7-433 is a single statute containing five prescribed forms. Subsection (1) supplies the Interim Waiver and Release Upon Payment, exchanged for a progress payment, which releases the claim for the stated amount through the stated date and preserves everything furnished afterward. Subsection (2) supplies the Waiver and Release Upon Final Payment, exchanged for the final payment, which releases the claimant's entire remaining claim on the project. Subsection (3) supplies the Affidavit of Nonpayment, filed when a waiver was signed but the payment never arrived, which stops the sixty-day clock. Subsection (4) supplies the Notice of Contest of Lien, an owner-side form that compresses the time a recorded lien remains enforceable. Subsection (5) supplies the Pre-Lien Notice to Owner, served by a claimant without a direct contract with the owner, which builds and preserves the claim a waiver later releases. The two waiver forms split by payment stage, not by dollar amount, and both are subject to the same sixty-day conversion.
The 60-Day Deemed-Paid Rule, the Provision That Actually Costs Money
Every serious Mississippi waiver problem traces back to one sentence in § 85-7-433: the amount stated in a waiver and release is conclusively deemed paid in full sixty days after the date of execution, even if the claimant never actually received the payment, unless before the sixty-day period expires the claimant files either an Affidavit of Nonpayment in the county where the property is located or a Claim of Lien. The word conclusively is doing real work. This is not a rebuttable presumption a claimant can overcome later with bank records and testimony showing the money never arrived. Once the sixty days run without a filing, the claimant is deemed paid and the underlying lien or bond claim for that amount is gone, leaving an unsecured contract claim against whoever broke the payment chain. The statute forces this warning onto the document itself: both waiver forms must carry an all-caps notice stating that the signer will be conclusively deemed paid in full the amount stated, even if payment was not actually received, sixty days after the date stated, unless an Affidavit of Nonpayment or a Claim of Lien is filed before the period expires. Omitting that notice renders the form unenforceable and invalid as a waiver and release under § 85-7-419.
The Affidavit of Nonpayment and How to Stop the Clock
The Affidavit of Nonpayment, prescribed by § 85-7-433(3), is the claimant's escape hatch, and it carries two deadlines rather than one. First, the affidavit must be filed in the county where the property is located before the sixty-day period expires; a filing on day sixty-one is worthless. Second, within two days of filing, the claimant must send a copy to the property owner by registered or certified mail or statutory overnight delivery. Both steps matter, and a claimant who files on day fifty-nine then serves the owner casually by email a week later has not followed the statute. Filing the affidavit prevents the waived amount from being conclusively deemed paid, preserving the claim while the payment dispute plays out. The mechanism is symmetrical: if the claimant is later paid in full, it executes a further affidavit swearing that payment was received, and upon recordation the Affidavit of Nonpayment is deemed void, so the tool does not permanently cloud title once the money arrives. A claimant may also simply file a Claim of Lien within the sixty days, achieving the same protection through a more aggressive route.
What Makes a Mississippi Waiver Valid and the Bar on Advance Waiver
Section 85-7-433 supplies the forms and the sixty-day mechanism; § 85-7-419 supplies the prohibition no contract can draft around. A valid Mississippi waiver substantially follows the statutory interim or final form, carries the mandatory all-caps sixty-day notice language on its face, uses the correct form for the payment stage, and is signed by the claimant or an authorized agent. Under § 85-7-419, the right to claim a lien or to claim upon a bond may not be waived in advance of furnishing labor, services, or materials, and any purported waiver or release executed or made in advance is null, void, and unenforceable, so a no-lien clause in a Mississippi subcontract does not strip a claimant's rights before the work is done. Note that the statute speaks of the lien and the bond claim: on bonded public or private work, a demanded waiver may reach both remedies at once, so a claimant should confirm what it is actually signing away. Above all, the claimant must docket the sixty-day date on every waiver signed and file an Affidavit of Nonpayment or Claim of Lien if the money does not arrive.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the Mississippi statutory lien waiver forms?
Miss. Code Ann. § 85-7-433 prescribes two waiver forms: the Interim Waiver and Release Upon Payment in subsection (1), used for a progress payment, and the Waiver and Release Upon Final Payment in subsection (2), used at closeout. The same statute prescribes the Affidavit of Nonpayment in subsection (3), the Notice of Contest of Lien in subsection (4), and the Pre-Lien Notice to Owner in subsection (5). A waiver must substantially follow the statutory form, though an incomplete blank does not automatically invalidate it if the subject matter of the release reasonably may be determined.
What is the Mississippi 60-day deemed-paid rule?
Sixty days after a § 85-7-433 waiver is executed, the amount stated is conclusively deemed paid in full — even if the claimant never received the money — unless before the sixty days expire the claimant files an Affidavit of Nonpayment or a Claim of Lien. A Mississippi waiver is effectively conditional for sixty days and then converts into an unconditional release by operation of law. Unlike California, Michigan, or Texas, choosing the right form does not protect you indefinitely; the calendar does the damage.
What notice language must appear on a Mississippi lien waiver?
Both waiver forms must carry an all-caps notice on the face of the document warning that the signer will be conclusively deemed paid in full the amount stated, even if payment was not actually received, sixty days after the date stated, unless an Affidavit of Nonpayment or Claim of Lien is filed before the sixty-day period expires. The statute provides that omitting this language renders the form unenforceable and invalid as a waiver and release under § 85-7-419.
How does a Mississippi Affidavit of Nonpayment work?
Prescribed by § 85-7-433(3), it is the document that stops the sixty-day clock. File it in the county where the property is located before the sixty-day period expires, and within two days of filing send a copy to the property owner by registered or certified mail or statutory overnight delivery. Filing prevents the waived amount from being conclusively deemed paid. If the claimant is later paid in full, it executes a further affidavit swearing payment was received, and upon recordation the Affidavit of Nonpayment is deemed void.
Can a Mississippi contractor waive lien rights in advance?
No. Miss. Code Ann. § 85-7-419 provides that the right to claim a lien or to claim upon a bond may not be waived in advance of furnishing labor, services, or materials, and that any purported advance waiver or release is null, void, and unenforceable. A no-lien clause in a Mississippi subcontract does not strip a claimant's rights before the work is performed. Rights leave only through a § 85-7-433 waiver tied to an actual payment, subject to the sixty-day mechanism.
Does a Mississippi lien waiver also release bond claims?
It can. Section 85-7-419 speaks in terms of the right to claim a lien or to claim upon a bond, and the § 85-7-433 forms are written to release the claimant's claim against the property and, where applicable, against the payment bond. A subcontractor on a bonded Mississippi project signing interim waivers as draws arrive may be giving up both remedies at once, with the same sixty-day deemed-paid rule applying. Confirm what a demanded waiver actually reaches before signing.