Section 19 Lis Pendens

• Library: Real Estate Fundamentals 2011

A petitioner to quiet title would be wise also to file a notice of lis pendens. Then, if the property is transferred or sold pending litigation, the party who acquires it will have no greater right than that possessed by the transferor at the time of the transfer, and the transferee will be bound by the judgment against the transferor regardless of whether the transferee is made party to the suit. See:

Miller v. Heisler,187 S.W.2d 485, 490 (Mo. App. W.D. 1945) Tice v. Hamilton,87 S.W. 497, 499 (Mo. 1905) Mo. State Life Ins. Co. v. Russ,214 S.W. 860, 863–64 (Mo. 1919) Turner v. Edmonston,109 S.W. 33, 35 (Mo. 1908)

Section 527.260, RSMo 2000, provides that, in any civil action based on equitable rights claiming a lien affecting real estate, the plaintiff must file of record, with the recorder of deeds of the county in which any of the real estate is situated, a written notice showing the following:

Names of the parties Style of the action Term of court to which suit is brought Description of the real estate to be affected

The pendency of the suit, after the filing of lis pendens, is constructive notice to purchasers or the encumbrancer only from the time of filing of the notice. The recorder is required, after receiving the notice, to record and index it the same as deeds to real estate. Some of the older cases hold that lis...