Emile and Ericka found their dream house. In examining the title to the property, the title company indicated that it found a "Notice of Lis Pendens." The notice indicated that a bank, the mortgage holder on the property, had initiated foreclosure proceedings.

What is a Lis Pendens?

The phrase "lis pendens" means "a pending suit." The purpose of a notice of lis pendens is to tell anyone who examines the title to real property that litigation has been initiated in connection with the real property and that, to the extent a judgment is awarded in favor of the plaintiff in the litigation, the judgment will have priority as of the date of the notice of lis pendens. The purpose of a notice of lis pendens is to keep the property within the jurisdiction of a court. It is important to note that a notice of lis pendens does not establish an actual lien on the property.

In order for a notice of lis pendens to be valid, the property described in the notice must be subject to the rule of lis pendens. Moreover, the court in the underlying action must have personal and subject matter jurisdiction. Finally, the notice of lis pendens must contain a sufficient description of the property.

When Might a Notice of Lis Pendens Be Filed?

When litigation involving property arises, a notice of lis pendens may be filed by the party initiating the litigation. Some actions involving title to property include:

• partition actions;
  
• will contests;
  
• actions to determine adverse claims to property ; and
  
• foreclosures.

Considerations If A Notice of Lis Pendens Is Found

A purchaser may take title to property subject to a lis pendens. Before doing so, however, it would be prudent for a purchaser to make an extremely careful examination of the underlying litigation. An additional consideration is whether, in such a circumstance, a title insurer would be willing to insure title to the property.

In addition, a property owner may be able to post a bond and initiate proceedings to attack the validity of the lis pendens. If a court determines that the lis pendens action was initiated with an improper motive or is legally invalid, the court will order the expungement of the notice of lis pendens.

Lastly, it is important to note that the laws governing lis pendens vary from state to state.

Copyright 2010 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.