Texas 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.
Tex. Prop. Code §§ 53.152, 53.157(1) discharges the lien on satisfaction of the debt. 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 Clerk. Two different acts, and § 53.152 only requires the first. THE CLAIMANT'S DUTY IS TO FURNISH the release to the person who requested it — the section names no office at all. RECORDING is the owner's route: § 53.157(1), as amended by HB 2237 effective 1 January 2022, discharges the affidavit of record when a release signed by the claimant under § 53.152 is recorded. That happens with the county clerk of the county where the IMPROVEMENTS are located, per § 53.052(e).
Ten days after RECEIPT OF A WRITTEN REQUEST, where the debt is satisfied or paid by collected funds; an owner, the original contractor or any person making the payment may request it (§ 53.152(a)). § 53.152 itself attaches no damages, per-diem or fee award — but do not read that as safety, because two other sections do the work. § 53.156 provides that in any proceeding to declare a lien invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part the court SHALL award costs and reasonable attorney's fees as are equitable and just (with a carve-out relieving a residential property owner of paying them), and an owner suing to clear a paid-off lien is in exactly such a proceeding. And § 53.160(b)(7) lets the owner remove the lien on a summary motion where the claimant executed a valid release — so signing one and sitting on it is its own exposure.