Stage 2 of 4 · The Notices and the Clock
Lis Pendens
A recorded notice that a lawsuit affecting title to the property is pending.
- In plain English
- Lis pendens is Latin for suit pending. Recording it warns anyone searching title that the property is the subject of litigation, so a buyer takes it subject to whatever the court decides.
- Example
- A lender files a judicial foreclosure complaint in Florida and records a lis pendens the same week.
- Why it matters
- In judicial states it plays the role the notice of default plays elsewhere, and it makes the property practically unsellable until the case resolves.
- Remember it as
- A flag on the title that says wait.
Where it lands in the timeline
Stage 2: The Notices and the Clock
Once payments stop, the lender has to announce it in public and then wait out a legal timetable, and knowing which notice starts which clock tells you how much time is really left.