Michigan — Contractor Lien Waiver Resources
Michigan’s Construction Lien Act does not merely offer waiver forms — § 115 of the Act (MCL 570.1115) prints four of them and ties each one to a payment event. In Michigan, the waiver you owe depends on exactly how much money has actually changed hands.
What the official source states
Official source: MCL 570.1115 — https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=MCL-570-1115
- A person may not require, as part of a contract for an improvement, that the right to a construction lien be waived in advance of work performed; a waiver obtained that way is contrary to public policy and invalid, except to the extent that payment for labor and material furnished was actually made to the person giving the waiver (MCL 570.1115(1)). Accepting a promissory note or other evidence of debt does not by itself waive lien rights.
- A lien claimant who receives full payment shall provide a full unconditional waiver; a claimant who receives partial payment shall, on request, provide a partial unconditional waiver for the amount received (subsections (2) and (3)).
- A partial or full conditional waiver is effective upon payment of the amount indicated in the waiver (subsection (4)).
- Subsection (9) prints the four forms — partial unconditional, partial conditional, full unconditional, full conditional — which “shall be used in substantially the following format”; each form ends with the warning: DO NOT SIGN BLANK OR INCOMPLETE FORMS. RETAIN A COPY.
Verified against the official source on 2026-10-27. This page is a plain-language summary, not the statute and not legal advice.
What this means for your paperwork
- Track partial payments precisely: the partial unconditional waiver you owe covers the amount received, no more and no less.
- Never sign a Michigan form with blanks — the statute prints that warning on the form itself.
- Keep the payment record stapled to the waiver it triggered; Michigan waivers are payment-event documents.
Michigan Contractor Paperwork Pack
The Michigan Starter Pack contains editable invoice, estimate, and change-order templates, a contractor checklist, payment tracker, waiver log, and an Official Form Reference Guide for MCL 570.1115. Where Michigan prescribes a statutory waiver form, the pack links to the official form at the source above — it does not substitute one.
See the catalog for pack status and contents.
Buy the Michigan Starter Pack — $9 (secure Stripe checkout)