California Lien Release
The Lien You Are Releasing
Pull your stamped copy of the lien — everything on this page is on it. If the details here do not match the instrument on record, the release does not release it, and no one at the counter will catch that for you.
This instrument says the debt is paid.
California has no statute prescribing this instrument, so what it says is what binds you. Signing it while money is still owed puts a false statement on the public record and gives away the security you filed to protect. If you have been paid part of it, this is not the document you want — talk to a construction attorney about what is.
Where this gets filed: County Recorder. The same county recorder that took the claim of lien.
None. No California provision sets a deadline or penalty for a claimant who leaves a paid lien on record. Civil Code § 2941 is the mortgage reconveyance penalty and is sometimes argued by analogy; that argument is unsettled and is not law here. Note also § 8494: an expired lien is not constructive notice — but nothing removes the document from the record.