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Are electronic copies of unconditional waivers sufficient or must you collect the original waiver to be valid?

CaliforniaLien Waivers

I work for a GC. When collecting unconditional waivers from subcontractors in California, are the original unconditional waiver with the wet signatures required to be collected to validate receipt of payment based on a provided unconditional waiver from a subcontractor or is an electronic copy of the signed unconditional waiver sufficient?

1 reply

May 8, 2019

That's a great question, and it's one we get pretty often. So often, in fact, that Levelset put out some content on the subject - and you can get some great detail on the topic in this article from Levelset's Chief Legal Officer: Can You Use Electronic Signatures on Lien Waivers? Yes! But ultimately - electronic signatures are just as valid as wet signatures. When something beyond a signature is required - such as notarization - an electronic signature might not cut it. But mechanics lien waivers very rarely require notarization (only TX, WY, and MS require it). So, just like any other legal document, electronically signing lien waivers is perfectly valid.

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