Wyoming Preliminary Notice
W.S. 29-2-112 gives a Wyoming contractor no day count at all: the notice has to be sent before the contractor takes any payment from the owner, including an advance. A subcontractor or materialman gets 30 days from first providing services or materials. Attorney review available.
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Introduction
Taking the first payment from the owner is the event that closes the window on a Wyoming contractor, and W.S. 29-2-112(a)(ii)(A) attaches no number of days to it whatsoever. The notice must be sent by the contractor prior to receiving any payment from owner, including advances, so an advance deposit collected on day one ends the opportunity on day one. A subcontractor or materialman runs on a different event entirely: 30 days after first providing services or materials to the construction project. Getting the wrong event is the Wyoming mistake, because a general contractor who assumes it has the 30 days has usually already banked a draw. Both events feed the same sanction in paragraph (a)(iii), and it is absolute. Failure to send the notice within the time specified bars the right of a contractor, subcontractor or materialman to assert a lien. Wyoming also excuses nobody. Paragraph (a)(i) names the contractor, the subcontractor and the materialman together, and the definition in W.S. 29-1-201(a)(i) folds an architect, a professional engineer and a surveyor into the word contractor, so design professionals are inside the duty and use the contractor trigger. The notice goes to the record owner or his agent, and a subcontractor or materialman must also copy the contractor it is supplying. Wyoming then prints the notice itself at W.S. 29-10-101, captioned NOTICE TO OWNER, with a lien waiver form attached to it, and tells you the county clerk keeps copies. DocDraft builds your Wyoming preliminary notice from your facts, with attorney review available before you send it.
Key Things to Know
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Wyoming sets two different trigger events rather than one deadline. W.S. 29-2-112(a)(ii) requires the notice to be sent by the contractor prior to receiving any payment from owner, including advances, and by the subcontractor or materialman within 30 days after first providing services or materials to the construction project.
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For a contractor there is no grace period to count. The trigger is an act of the contractor's own, taking money, so the window can close the same week the job starts if an advance is collected.
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Paragraph (a)(iii) is a hard bar: failure to send the notice within the time specified shall bar the right of a contractor, subcontractor or materialman to assert a lien. Wyoming gives no partial credit for a late notice.
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Nobody is carved out. The statute names contractor, subcontractor and materialman together, and W.S. 29-1-201(a)(i) defines contractor to include an architect, a professional engineer and a surveyor, so the designers on the job are covered too.
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The notice goes to the record owner or his agent. Each subcontractor and materialman must also provide a copy to the contractor for which it is providing services or materials. The construction lender is not on the Wyoming list.
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Service runs on the definition of send in W.S. 29-1-201(a)(xii). A United States Postal Service mailing must go by first class mail, by certified mail return receipt requested, or by mail delivery requiring a receipt. A commercial carrier counts if it requests and maintains a receipt, and email counts only where the sender and recipient have previously communicated by electronic means.
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W.S. 29-10-101 prints the form and builds in its own proof rule: a form filled out correctly and sent within the W.S. 29-2-112 time periods constitutes prima facie evidence that you provided the required content. The form says a lien waiver is attached, and the clerk of each county stocks it.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Preliminary Notice in Wyoming, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Preliminary Notice guide walks through them.
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Wyoming Requirements for Preliminary Notice
A Contractor Sends Before Receiving Any Payment, Including an Advance
W.S. 29-2-112(a)(ii)(A) attaches no day count to the contractor's duty. The notice must be sent prior to receiving any payment from owner, including advances, so accepting a mobilization deposit before the notice goes out closes the window. Send it when the contract is signed.
A Subcontractor or Materialman Gets Thirty Days From First Furnishing
W.S. 29-2-112(a)(ii)(B) requires the notice to be sent by the subcontractor or materialman within thirty days after first providing services or materials to the construction project. The count runs from your first day of labor or your first delivery to that project, not from your contract date and not from an unpaid invoice.
Missing the Trigger Bars the Lien Right Outright
Paragraph (a)(iii) provides that failure to send the notice within the time specified shall bar the right of a contractor, subcontractor or materialman to assert a lien. The whole section is framed as going to perfecting the right to file a construction lien, and Wyoming offers no reduced or partial claim for a late notice.
Recipients: The Record Owner or His Agent, Plus Your Own Contractor
The written notice goes to the record owner or his agent. Each subcontractor and materialman must also provide a copy to the contractor for which it is providing services or materials. W.S. 29-1-201(b) presumes agency in only four situations, between spouses as to one spouse's property, between joint tenants, among tenants in common, and an employee for an employer, so a manager or tenant is not a safe recipient.
No Class of Claimant Is Carved Out
W.S. 29-2-112(a)(i) names the contractor, subcontractor and materialman together and excuses none of them. W.S. 29-1-201(a)(i) defines contractor to include an architect, a professional engineer and a surveyor. Furnish includes renting and material includes equipment and machinery whether or not incorporated plus fuel and lubricants consumed, so equipment lessors and fuel suppliers are inside the duty.
Sending Runs on the Statutory Definition of Send
W.S. 29-1-201(a)(xii) controls. A Postal Service mailing must go by first class mail, certified mail return receipt requested, or mail delivery requiring a receipt. A commercial carrier qualifies if it requests and maintains a receipt for written documents. An electronic record qualifies only where sender and recipient have previously communicated by electronic means. The writing is deemed sent when deposited or delivered for transmission.
The W.S. 29-10-101 NOTICE TO OWNER Form, With a Lien Waiver Attached
Paragraph (a)(iv) requires substantially the same format and the same information as the form at W.S. 29-10-101, obtainable at the county clerk's office of each county. The prescribed warning tells the owner that non-payment can result in a lien, that the owner may ask for lien waivers from all persons supplying materials or services, and that failing to secure them may mean paying twice. The form states that a lien waiver form, printed at W.S. 29-10-101(b), is attached.
The Form Carries Its Own Prima Facie Evidence Rule
Wyoming requires no proof of service affidavit for this notice. Instead W.S. 29-10-101(a) states that the form, filled out correctly and sent within the time periods specified in W.S. 29-2-112, constitutes prima facie evidence that the claimant provided the content required by W.S. 29-2-112(a)(i). Keep the dated sending receipt with the completed form. Serving also obliges the record owner, under W.S. 29-2-106(c), to send you a copy of any recorded notice of substantial completion within five days.