An apparatus, system, and method are provided for automatically freeing locked server resources using a timeout value closely related to actual real-time message delays plus a delta value that can be adjusted at a plurality of levels. The levels include default, server, connection, and transaction. The apparatus includes a timer, a communication module, a computation module, and a lock handler. The timer determines a timeout value for communications from a client to a server. The communication module sends an output message to the client and locks a server resource in anticipation of an acknowledgement (ACK) message from the client. The computation module, which calculates an ACK timer, includes a difference between a send time and a current time. If no ACK message has been received from the client and the ACK timer exceeds the timeout value, the lock handler may free the locked server resource.