Utah lien waiver forms and what the statute says

Utah gives two lien waiver forms in its statute: a conditional waiver and release upon progress payment, and a waiver and release upon final payment. Both sit in section 38-1a-802(4), and both release the signer’s rights only once a check is endorsed and paid.

The section has no unconditional form. When a Utah project needs an unconditional waiver, the app offers our own general one, labeled as ours, and keeps the statute’s two forms for the two payments they cover. Whichever form is used, it is filled from the pay app the payment is for.

The two Utah forms at a glance

The table lists each form the app prints for a Utah job, the subsection it comes from, and the sentence in the form that says when it takes effect or what it covers. The quoted words are the statute’s.

The final form does not carry the word conditional in its heading, yet its text opens with the same two conditions as the progress form: the signer endorses a check for the stated amount, and the bank it is drawn on pays it. That is why the app treats it as the conditional final waiver. Neither form is split into an unconditional twin in the statute.

What section 38-1a-802 says about using them

Subsection (4) tells the reader how a Utah waiver is judged: A waiver and release given by a claimant meets the requirements of this section if it is in substantially the form provided in this Subsection (4) for the circumstance provided in this Subsection (4). Form (b) opens with A waiver and release may be in substantially the following form.

Subsection (2) sets when a claimant’s written consent to waive or limit its lien rights counts. That consent is enforceable only if the claimant: (a) (i) executes a waiver and release that is signed by the claimant or the claimant's authorized agent; or (ii) for a restrictive endorsement on a check, includes a restrictive endorsement on a check signed the same way and in the wording the section gives, and the claimant receives payment of the amount identified in the waiver and release or check that includes the restrictive endorsement. Subsection (3) deals with payment by check. Where the check fails to clear the depository institution on which it is drawn for any reason, it says the waiver and release described in Subsection (3)(a) is void.

Statute

Utah Code § 38-1a-802(4)

Use of the form

The statute gives forms a waiver may substantially follow.

Who it applies to

Any claimant.

Notary

The statute is silent.

Note

The statute has no unconditional forms; our general forms are offered for those.

Source: Utah Code § 38-1a-802(4). The Utah Legislature’s site, read Nov 12, 2026.

The check, the endorsement and the signer

Utah’s section also reaches the check itself. Subsection (4)(e) says the person preparing the check is to indicate whether the check is for a progress payment or a final payment, by circling the word on the check. Subsection (4)(d) gives wording for a restrictive endorsement printed on the check: Endorsement of this check is an acknowledgment by the endorser that the waiver and release to which the payment applies is effective to the extent provided in Utah Code Ann. Subsection 38-1a-802(4)(b) or (c) respectively.

The endorsement text is a line on a check, not a waiver form, so it is shown here for reference and the app does not print it as a form. The two forms are what a Utah job gets in the app. Each form ends with a company name line and By and Its lines for the person signing. The statute names no notary step, and it sets no notice wording or type size for either form.

The statute puts no limit on who the waiver applies to. Any claimant is covered, and the section carries no exclusion for homes or for GCs.

What the Utah progress form leaves out

The progress form is narrower than its name suggests. It applies to the payment named in it and only to the extent of the Payment Amount. After that, its own text lists what it does not reach: any retention withheld, items or changes still pending approval, disputed items and claims, and anything furnished or invoiced after the Payment Period.

The form also carries a promise from the signer. The signer states that the money has been or will be used promptly to pay laborers, subcontractors, materialmen and suppliers for the work the waiver covers. The final form carries the same promise for the final payment. The app prints both sentences as they stand in the statute.

The unconditional kinds in a Utah job

Because the statute has no unconditional form, the app offers its general unconditional waivers for a Utah project, in the same four kinds as everywhere else, and marks them as ours. They are not the statute’s words. If a GC asks a Utah sub for an unconditional progress waiver or an unconditional final waiver, the sub chooses that kind when making the waiver, and the blanks fill the same way. The conditional vs unconditional guide sets out how the two differ in timing.

The full text of each form

Below is each Utah form as the app prints it, word for word, read from the Utah Legislature’s site on November 12, 2026. The blank lines are where the app writes the job’s details. Line breaks follow the page we read.

The filled sample, field by field

The sample beside the introduction is the first pay app of the demo drywall job, Maple Street Clinic: $25,650 of work, 5% retainage held, $24,367.50 due. The job is a clinic at 1450 Maple Street in Salt Lake City. These are the blanks the app filled, and where each value came from.

The sample leaves the retainage out of the Payment Amount. The $1,282.50 held on that pay app is the very item the form says it does not apply to, so it stays for a later payment.

Making a Utah waiver here

1. Set the project’s State to Utah when you create the job, and add the customer, the owner and the site address.
2. Fill the pay application for the period: the work this period on each schedule of values line, stored materials, and any retainage released.
3. Finish the pay app. Its figures are then frozen, and a later correction makes a new version.
4. Open Lien waivers, choose the Utah form for the payment and the pay app it covers. The amount, the pay app number and the period fill in.
5. Sign typed or drawn, or send the signing link to the person who signs, then download the PDF with the pay app and its backup.

How the waiver follows the pay app

The Payment Amount on a Utah progress waiver is the current payment due on the pay app, not the work to date and not the contract sum. Take the second pay app of the pay application guide’s $120,000 drywall contract, at 10% retainage. It shows $76,000.00 completed to date, $7,600.00 of retainage held, which leaves $68,400.00 earned less retainage. The first pay app already asked for $23,085.00, so the current payment due is $45,315.00.

The progress waiver for that payment reads $45,315.00 as the Payment Amount, 2 as the Invoice/Payment Application Number, and the second pay app’s period end date after the word To. The $7,600.00 held is outside the amount, in line with the form’s exception for retention withheld. When retainage is released on a later pay app, the release is entered on that pay app and adds to its payment due.

The waiver is made from the finished pay app, so the two documents show the same figures to the cent. If the pay app is revised, the revision is a new version and a new waiver can be made from it. The pay application guide follows the current payment due line by line.

Sources: Utah Code § 38-1a-802(4).

The other kinds and nearby States

The lien waiver guide compares the four kinds across all twelve States with statutory forms. Utah’s neighbors with their own wording are Nevada, which has four forms in its statute, and Wyoming, which has one form for every payment.