On a construction project, payment usually travels with a lien waiver — the signed document in which a contractor or supplier gives up the right to lien the property for the amount being paid. Wyoming boils that paperwork down to a single statutory form: Wyo. Stat. § 29-10-101 pairs the state's preliminary notice of right to lien with a single statutory lien waiver, to be completed 'in substantially the following form.' There are no conditional/unconditional or progress/final variants — one document, used payment by payment, with its protections built into the text.
The Wyoming form protects retainage by default. Its operative language waives lien rights for the payment received while expressly reserving all claims and lien rights for retainage withheld — with a blank for the amount — and for labor or materials furnished afterward. It also contains a line stating any sum that remains unpaid. Fill those blanks honestly and the form documents your position instead of erasing it.
What makes the Wyoming form unusual
- Built-in retainage reservation: the form reserves lien rights for withheld retainage and future work by its own terms — protection most states require you to draft in.
- An unpaid-amount disclosure: the form states what the claimant has not yet been paid and preserves the right to lien and to sue for it.
- A notarization block: the statutory form ends with an acknowledgment, so plan on a notary — unusual among lien waiver forms nationally.
- It travels with the preliminary notice: the same section prescribes the notice to the owner, which warns that paying without collecting lien waivers can mean paying twice.
The dishonored-payment rule — read it twice
The form's fine print cuts both ways. It says the owner may rely on the waiver even if the claimant accepted uncertified funds that were later dishonored or revoked — in which case the waiver stays in force — but then provides that the waiver does not apply if the payment tendered by the owner is dishonored or revoked. Whose check bounced, in other words, decides whether the waiver survives. Accepting a third party's uncertified check is the risk the form leaves on you.
Download the Wyoming lien waiver
Wyoming does not publish a standalone form download, and the state does not freely host an official code text — the form appears in full in § 29-10-101 as republished by Justia, a private legal publisher. The button below opens that page; copy the form from the statutory text. PayApplicationGenerator.com is not associated with Justia and takes no responsibility for the form or its contents — verify it against the current statute before relying on it.
Working in another state? Every state's lien waiver forms, in one place.
This page summarizes § 29-10-101 as codified and is educational, not legal advice. For a specific project, read the current statute or consult a Wyoming construction attorney.
Frequently asked questions
- Does Wyoming have statutory lien waiver forms?
- One. Section 29-10-101 prescribes a single lien waiver form — used in substantially that form — alongside the preliminary notice of right to lien. There are no separate conditional, unconditional, progress, or final variants.
- Does a Wyoming lien waiver need to be notarized?
- The statutory form includes an acknowledgment block, so completing it as prescribed means notarizing it — a requirement most states dropped or never had.
- Does signing the Wyoming waiver give up my retainage?
- Not if the form is completed as written: it expressly reserves all claims and lien rights for retainage withheld, with a blank for the amount, plus anything furnished afterward. Fill in the retainage figure from your pay application rather than leaving it blank.
- What happens if the check bounces after signing?
- It depends whose payment it was. The form says the waiver does not apply if payment tendered by the owner is dishonored or revoked — but if you accepted uncertified funds from someone else that later bounced, the form lets the owner rely on the waiver anyway. Treat non-owner checks with care.
