A lis pendens is a public notice recorded in county land records announcing that a lawsuit affecting a specific property is pending, and the clearest lis pendens examples all share one feature: the lawsuit asks a court to decide who owns the property or who holds an interest in it. The notice shows up most often in quiet title fights, specific performance suits against a backing-out seller, divorce and probate disputes, partition actions between co-owners, and mechanics lien foreclosures. In every one of these situations, the filing works the same way. It puts the world on constructive notice, which means any later buyer, lender, or refinancer is treated as if they knew about the case and takes whatever interest they acquire subject to the court’s eventual ruling.
Quiet Title and Ownership Disputes
The most straightforward example involves someone claiming they are the rightful owner of property currently held by someone else. A deed was forged. A transfer was fraudulent. A prior conveyance contained a serious error. The claimant files a quiet title lawsuit and records a lis pendens against the property at the same time.
That combination stops the current record owner from selling to an innocent buyer who would complicate the court’s ability to return the property to the rightful owner. Without the notice, the record owner could sell to a good-faith buyer before the court rules, leaving the true owner with nothing but a money judgment against someone who may have no assets. The lis pendens keeps the property itself available as a remedy. It holds things in place until a judge sorts out who actually owns what.
Specific Performance When a Seller Backs Out
Real estate is considered legally unique, which is why courts will sometimes force a seller to go through with a deal rather than just award money damages. When a seller signs a purchase agreement and then refuses to close, the buyer can sue for specific performance, asking the court to order the seller to complete the sale. Recording a lis pendens at that point is critical. It prevents the seller from turning around and selling to someone else at a higher price while the lawsuit plays out.
The notice effectively disables the seller’s ability to sell, lease, or refinance the property until the case resolves. Even though it does not create a formal lien, no title company will insure the transaction and no buyer will take the risk. If the court ultimately orders the seller to honor the original contract, the property is still there for the buyer to acquire. Without the notice, the buyer could win the lawsuit only to find the property already sold.
Divorce and Probate
In divorce proceedings, one spouse may not appear on the deed at all, yet still hold a marital interest in the property. Recording a lis pendens protects that interest by preventing the titled spouse from selling, refinancing, or taking out new loans against the home before the court divides assets. The notice creates priority over any later encumbrances or transfers, so the non-titled spouse’s claim survives until a settlement or final judgment.
A similar dynamic plays out in probate. An heir challenging a will or disputing how a deceased relative’s land should be distributed can record a lis pendens to prevent other parties from liquidating the real estate before the court settles the estate. That keeps creditors and co-heirs from dismantling the property’s value while the legal process determines who gets what.
Partition Actions Between Co-Owners
When two or more people co-own property and cannot agree on what to do with it, one co-owner can file a partition action asking the court to either physically divide the land or order it sold and the proceeds split. A lis pendens recorded alongside the partition lawsuit prevents any co-owner from unilaterally selling their share or encumbering the entire property during the case. This comes up often among siblings who inherit a family home, business partners who split up, and ex-partners who bought property together outside of marriage.
Mechanics Liens and Foreclosure Actions
Contractors and suppliers who perform work or provide materials for a property improvement can file a mechanics lien if they go unpaid. Enforcing that lien typically requires filing a foreclosure lawsuit to seek a court-ordered sale of the property. In some jurisdictions, recording a lis pendens alongside that foreclosure action is required; in others, it is optional but strongly recommended. Either way, the notice warns potential buyers that the property has an active foreclosure claim against it, which protects the contractor’s priority position among creditors seeking payment from the property’s equity. Without one, a property owner could sell to a buyer who takes free of the lien, leaving the contractor chasing an empty judgment.
When a Lis Pendens Is Not Appropriate
A lis pendens can only be filed when the underlying lawsuit involves an actual claim to title or an interest in the property itself. If the lawsuit seeks only money damages, a lis pendens is improper, even if the dispute arose from a real estate transaction. A buyer who sues a seller for fraud but asks only for a refund rather than ownership of the property cannot record one. The same applies when the dispute is about money owed from a property sale rather than who owns the land.
This distinction trips people up constantly. Filing a lis pendens on a money-only claim exposes the filer to having the notice expunged, and potentially to sanctions, attorney’s fees, and liability for slander of title. The test is simple: does your lawsuit ask for the property itself, or does it ask for dollars? If the answer is dollars, a lis pendens has no business being filed.
What a Valid Lis Pendens Must Contain
Recording requirements vary somewhat by jurisdiction, but every lis pendens must include a core set of information drawn from the underlying lawsuit and the property records:
- The full legal names of all plaintiffs and defendants in the action.
- The name of the court handling the case and the assigned case or docket number.
- A legal description of the real estate, typically including the lot, block, and subdivision information rather than just a street address.
- A statement identifying that the lawsuit involves a claim affecting title to or an interest in the property.
Most county recorders or court clerks have blank forms available. Some jurisdictions require the lis pendens to be notarized or signed under oath. Getting the legal description wrong is the fastest way to have the notice challenged, so pulling it directly from the deed or a title report is standard practice.
Federal courts follow the same framework. Under 28 U.S.C. ยง 1964, when a federal lawsuit affects real property, the lis pendens must be recorded according to the state’s own rules for the notice to create constructive notice.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1964 – Constructive Notice of Pending Actions There is no separate federal recording system; the same county recorder’s office handles filings from both state and federal cases.
Once the document is complete, the filer submits it to the county recorder’s office in the county where the property sits. After recording, most states require the filer to serve a copy of the notice on all parties with an interest in the property. Some require certified mail with return receipt; others follow the same service rules as the underlying lawsuit. Failing to properly serve the notice is one of the grounds courts use to expunge it.
What Happens to the Property While the Notice Is in Place
A lis pendens does not technically prevent a sale or transfer. What it does is make any transfer practically impossible through normal channels. Title insurance companies will not insure a property with an active lis pendens, which means conventional buyers and lenders walk away. An owner who needs to sell or refinance is effectively locked out of doing so until the notice is removed.
A buyer willing to gamble could theoretically close the deal anyway, but they take the property subject to whatever the court decides. If the filer wins, the buyer loses. Very few people accept that risk, and no competent real estate attorney would advise them to. The result is a near-total freeze on the property’s marketability, even though the notice creates no formal lien.
How Long a Lis Pendens Lasts and How It Ends
A lis pendens does not last forever. Most states set a statutory expiration period, typically ranging from one to three years from the date of filing, after which the notice loses its effect unless the filer takes action to extend it.2Michigan Legislature. MCL Section 600.2715 To extend before expiration, the filer generally must apply to the court and show good cause, such as the lawsuit still being actively litigated. If the filer misses the deadline, the notice simply lapses. Time spent on appeal in some states does not count toward the expiration period, which can extend the effective life of the notice significantly in drawn-out cases.
A property owner who believes the notice was improperly filed has two main paths to get rid of it before expiration. The most common is a motion to expunge. Courts will generally grant expungement when the underlying lawsuit does not actually involve a claim to the property’s title or an interest in it, when the filer cannot demonstrate the probable validity of their real property claim, when the notice was filed in bad faith, when there are procedural defects in how it was filed or served, or when the underlying lawsuit has been dismissed or resolved.
The second path, available in some states, is posting a surety bond in an amount set by the court. The bond substitutes for the lis pendens, guaranteeing that if the filer ultimately wins, they can recover from the bond instead of from the property. This option exists primarily for situations where the property owner urgently needs to sell or refinance and cannot wait for the underlying case to resolve. When a case settles or the filer decides to drop the claim, they can record a voluntary release at the county recorder’s office; no court involvement is required.
Consequences of Filing a Wrongful Lis Pendens
Filing a lis pendens without a legitimate real property claim is not a cost-free maneuver. Courts take abuse of this tool seriously because of how effectively it can shut down someone’s ability to use their own property. A person who files a baseless lis pendens may face court-ordered expungement, an attorney’s fee award to the prevailing party on the motion to expunge, monetary sanctions when the filing was made in bad faith, and civil liability for slander of title, abuse of process, or wrongful interference with a sale. Those civil claims can lead to both actual and punitive damages.
Some attorneys file lis pendens strategically to pressure settlements, knowing the property freeze gives them enormous leverage. Courts are well aware of this tactic. If the underlying lawsuit is thin and the notice looks like it exists primarily to coerce rather than to protect a genuine property interest, judges tend to expunge quickly and make the filer pay for it. The litigation privilege that protects most court filings from defamation claims does apply to lis pendens in many states, but that protection has limits and does not necessarily shield the filer from abuse of process or tortious interference claims.