Michigan Mechanics Lien (Discharge of Lien)

A paid construction lien does not come off the Michigan record on its own. Section 127 of the Construction Lien Act, MCL 570.1127(1), provides that when any claim of lien has been fully paid, the lien claimant shall deliver to the owner, lessee, or other person making payment a certificate, witnessed and acknowledged in the same manner as a discharge of mortgage, that the claim has been paid and is now discharged. This form prepares that certificate for one Michigan lien claimant and one recorded claim of lien. MCL 570.1112(1) is what puts it on the record, naming the certificate of discharge of lien among the instruments a register of deeds endorses and indexes.

An execution standard borrowed from mortgage law

Section 127 never describes how the certificate is executed; it points at a different chapter. Under MCL 565.42, a discharge of mortgage is a certificate executed by the mortgagee, the mortgagee's personal representative, or assigns, acknowledged, approved, and certified as that chapter provides to entitle instruments affecting the title to lands to be recorded, and MCL 565.43 has that certificate and its acknowledgment recorded at full length. The manner section 127 borrows is the manner of a recordable conveyance, which is why this certificate closes with an acknowledgment rather than an oath: the claimant acknowledges the discharge before a notary public under the Michigan Law on Notarial Acts, MCL 55.261 to 55.315. Two witness lines sit above that certificate, answering the word witnessed in section 127 itself.

Full payment, delivery, then the register of deeds

The duty is keyed to full payment rather than to a settlement or a promise, and MCL 570.1115(1) makes the point from the other side: a claimant's acceptance of a promissory note or other evidence of indebtedness does not of itself waive or discharge otherwise valid construction lien rights. Section 127 speaks of delivery, to the owner, lessee, or other person making payment. The recording step comes from section 112, in the office of the register of deeds for the county holding the claim of lien, and MCL 570.1112(2) prices it at the fee for recording a real estate mortgage, so a Michigan lien release costs what the mortgage discharge next to it in the index costs. A certificate delivered and never recorded leaves the lien indexed against the parcel, where a title search still finds it.

No statutory exemplar to follow

Elsewhere in this act the legislature printed the document itself. Section 127 did not, so a Michigan certificate of discharge of lien is assembled from the facts the section names: the claimant, the claim of lien being discharged, the person who made the payment, the property, and the certified statement that the claim has been paid and is now discharged. The form supplies those in six numbered sections, and the recorded claim of lien with the register's stamp on it is the source for the recording date, the liber and page or instrument number, and the county. The full unconditional waiver of lien that MCL 570.1115(2) has a paid claimant provide to the owner, lessee, or designee is a separate document in a statutory format, provided rather than recorded, and it is not part of this package.

What one certificate reaches

The form recites one lien claimant discharging one recorded claim of lien, with a single signature block headed LIEN CLAIMANT, two witness blocks, and one acknowledgment certificate. A fixed recital in Section 1 identifies that claimant as the claimant named in the claim of lien, or as the successor or assignee of that claimant, which is the shape MCL 570.1125 contemplates where a construction lien has been assigned. One certificate to one recorded claim is also what MCL 565.201(3) contemplates, because a register of deeds does not record an instrument that purports to evidence more than one recordable event. A supplier paid in full out of a refinancing, a contractor whose payoff cleared at a sale closing, and an assignee holding a lien bought from the original claimant each present the one claimant, one lien arrangement this certificate carries. A claim of lien recorded by a different claimant on the same project is discharged by that claimant's own certificate.

Three files come with the purchase: the fillable certificate, a completed example worked through a Macomb County payoff, and a guide that takes section 127 apart entry by entry, including the witness and acknowledgment blocks and the recording step. Everything here is informational and is not legal advice.