Legal Question in Business Law in Florida

Always use forms provided by Florida Statute. I would attach an appendix to the wavier/release form that shows an accounting to date:

Initial Sub-Contract Sum, additive and deductive change orders, amounts due, deductive application of the specific amount resulting in your current wavier of lien- then the resulting balance, once again.

Remember that in your final request for payment that you must list the names and addresses of sub-subs/ suppliers/ manufacturers/ (and perhaps your own design professionals [architects and one or more engineers]) who have not been paid.

It's heartening to see a construction professional- such as yourself- attend to the law. So many in the allied building trades sign the contract presented to them without review (a gigantic no-no) and then never look at it again. If they also do not study Florida's Construction Lien Statute the lack of attention to "administration of the contract documents" can spell major troubles ahead.

An important cautionary note here. Never try to obtain more than your base sub-contract amount (plus any agreed extras- [bi-lateral change orders approved by the prime contractor and the owner]). You could loose all job-related earnings and reimbursables under a theory of "fraudulent lien" (assuming you have already drafted a timely and properly served Notice to Owner- which subcontractors should always do, WITHOUT any exception-period).

And, as you probably already know, do not comingle monies amoung various jobs. Each job should have its own checking account.. not such a big deal to obtain these days. Commingling can result in the loss of your license.

I taught construction law in law school for 20 years. Nevertheless, it is important that the above observation not be considered a legal opinion upon which you may rely. Instead, a face to face conference with a formally engaged attorney (and for a short time) should be arranged.

Byron Petersen