Colorado: Mechanic's Lien Waiver Form and Advance-Waiver Rules
The short answer
Colorado does not generally void an advance lien-waiver agreement; it says the agreement binds only the contracting parties. Every waiver agreement must include the waiving person's statement that covered third-party debts have been paid or will be timely paid, but Colorado prescribes no conditional, unconditional, progress, or final form. On covered private projects priced at least $150,000, a contract may require an executed waiver to receive payment, but the waiver is for amounts actually paid.
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This is the general rule in Colorado. Ezel applies current Colorado law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and project scope | C.R.S. § 38-22-119 governs waivers under the General Mechanics' Lien article. C.R.S. §§ 38-46-102 and -104 add an actual-paid waiver condition for private owner contracts of at least $150,000 and their subcontracts/supply agreements, excluding one single-family or one ≤4-unit dwelling contract and public-entity contracts. |
|---|---|
| Advance or prospective waiver | No express advance-waiver ban. An agreement to waive, abandon, or refrain from enforcing an Article 22 lien is binding only between its contracting parties (§ 38-22-119(1)); it does not bind third parties who did not make the agreement. |
| Statutory form requirement | No statutory conditional, unconditional, progress, or final form. Mandatory content only: the waiver agreement must contain the waiving person's statement, in substance, that covered third-party debts have been paid or will be timely paid (§ 38-22-119(2)). |
| Waiver types and payment stage | No statutory waiver-type labels or four-form system. For Article 46 covered projects, the payment recipient provides an executed lien waiver for amounts actually paid if the contract, subcontract, or supply agreement requires one (§ 38-46-104). |
| Payment and effectiveness | Section 38-22-119 states no actual-receipt or cleared-check trigger. On covered ≥$150,000 private projects, the required waiver is expressly limited to amounts actually paid; the waiver must also state that the signer's related third-party debts have been or will be timely paid (§§ 38-22-119(2), 38-46-104). |
| Required contents, exceptions, and through date | Required statement only: all debts owed by the signer to any third party relating to the goods or services covered by the waiver have been paid or will be timely paid. No statutory claimant, owner, property, amount, check, through-date, retainage, extras, change-order, or disputed-claim fields (§ 38-22-119(2)). |
| Rights released and reserved | Section 38-22-119 concerns the Article 22 lien and makes the waiver binding only between the agreement's parties. It does not prescribe release of payment-bond, contract, delay, retainage, extras, or other claims, and supplies no statutory reservation language. |
| Signature, authority, notary, and format | The agreement must contain a statement by the person waiving lien rights; Article 46 calls for an executed waiver. No statutory title, agent-authority field, notarization, warning, type-size, attachment, delivery, or electronic-form rule is stated (§§ 38-22-119(2), 38-46-104). |
| Noncompliance, remedies, and transition traps | The waiver binds only contracting parties. Section 38-22-119 requires the third-party-debt statement but states no separate damages, penalty, or express consequence for omitting it. Article 46's payment rule applies only within its ≥$150,000 private-project scope and has been effective since Sept. 7, 2021. |
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Requirements one by one
The agreement binds only its parties
C.R.S. § 38-22-119(1) does not void an advance lien waiver. Instead, it says:
No agreement to waive, abandon, or refrain from enforcing any lien provided
for by this article shall be binding except as between the parties to such
contract.
The signer and the other contracting party can be bound, but their agreement
does not waive a third party's separate lien rights.
Every waiver needs the third-party-debt statement
Section 38-22-119(2) requires the agreement to contain a statement by the person
waiving lien rights. In substance, the signer must state that every debt the
signer owes to a third party relating to the goods or services covered by the
waiver has been paid or will be timely paid.
Colorado does not prescribe the rest of the document. There is no statutory
conditional, unconditional, progress, or final form and no required through date,
check field, exception list, warning, or notarization.
Covered large private projects add an actual-paid limit
Article 46 applies to private owner-contractor agreements priced at least
$150,000 and to the related subcontracts and supply agreements even when those
lower-tier agreements are smaller. It excludes a single contract to build one
single-family dwelling or one multifamily dwelling with no more than four units,
and excludes public-entity contracts.
Within that scope, § 38-46-104 says that if the agreement requires a lien waiver
to receive payment, the recipient provides an executed waiver "for amounts
actually paid." The statute does not convert that rule into a prescribed form.
What trips people up
The mandatory statement concerns the signer's downstream debts. It is not a
statutory declaration that the person signing has received the current payment.
The statement may say the covered debts "have been paid or will be timely paid."
Article 46 does not cover every Colorado project. Its $150,000 threshold and
small-residential/public exclusions must be checked before treating § 38-46-104
as the payment rule.
"Only between the parties" is not a form defect. It limits whom the waiver
binds; it does not create a statutory conditional or unconditional form.
Common questions
Does Colorado void every advance lien waiver?
No. Section 38-22-119 says the waiver agreement is binding only between its
contracting parties and requires the third-party-debt statement.
Does Colorado require four statutory waiver forms?
No. It requires one statement in every waiver agreement but prescribes no full
payment-stage form.
What can a waiver cover on an Article 46 project?
If the covered contract requires an executed waiver to receive payment, §
38-46-104 limits it to amounts actually paid.
Statutes and sources
- C.R.S. § 38-22-119, party-only effect and required third-party-debt statement —
https://olls.info/crs/crs2025-title-38.htm (accessed 2026-07-23) - C.R.S. § 38-46-102, covered ≥$150,000 private projects and exclusions —
https://olls.info/crs/crs2025-title-38.htm (accessed 2026-07-23) - C.R.S. § 38-46-104, executed waiver for amounts actually paid —
https://olls.info/crs/crs2025-title-38.htm (accessed 2026-07-23)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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