Definition
Lis pendens
A formal notice, recorded with the county clerk, that a lawsuit affecting real estate has been filed. It puts the world on notice that the property's title is subject to a pending legal dispute.
Lis pendens in plain English#
Lis pendens is Latin for "suit pending." In real estate, it's a formal notice filed with the county clerk announcing that a lawsuit has been filed affecting title to a specific property.
It's not a lien. It's not a judgment. It's a public notice that there's litigation in process that could affect ownership. Anyone searching title for that property will see it.
When you'll see one in NJ#
The most common context: at the start of a foreclosure case, the lender's attorney records a lis pendens at the same time they file the foreclosure complaint in Superior Court. This is standard NJ procedure.
Other contexts: partition actions among co-owners, divorce-related property disputes, boundary disputes, mechanic's lien lawsuits, specific-performance suits where one party is trying to force a contract through.
Practical consequences#
A lis pendens makes the property very hard to sell or refinance during the litigation. Title companies will not insure title with an open lis pendens on the property — and buyers and lenders won't close without title insurance. The property effectively becomes "frozen" in the market until the lis pendens is removed.
This is exactly its purpose — to prevent the property owner from selling or transferring the property while the litigation is pending.
Can a property with lis pendens still be sold?#
In some cases, yes. Either:
- The lawsuit gets resolved or dismissed and the lis pendens is removed (or the title company is satisfied)
- The buyer accepts the lis pendens risk in writing and proceeds anyway (unusual)
- The lender agrees to a sale that resolves the underlying claim (common in pre-foreclosure short sale or cash-sale-to-payoff scenarios)
In a NJ foreclosure case where lis pendens is filed by the lender, paying off the mortgage at closing typically resolves the underlying claim and the lender will dismiss the foreclosure (which removes the lis pendens). This is the path most NJ pre-foreclosure sales follow.
How it's removed#
The party that filed the lis pendens must file a release with the county clerk after the underlying lawsuit is resolved. In rare cases, a court can order removal if the lis pendens was filed in bad faith or has expired.
Related guides#
See stop foreclosure NJ for the full foreclosure sequence including when lis pendens enters the picture.
Related terms
- Foreclosure
The legal process by which a lender forces the sale of a property to recover an unpaid mortgage debt. New Jersey is a judicial foreclosure state — the lender must file a lawsuit and obtain a court judgment before the property can be sold.
- Sheriff sale
A court-ordered auction conducted by the county sheriff to sell a property after a foreclosure judgment. It's the final step in the NJ foreclosure process — the homeowner loses title at the sale.
- Pre-foreclosure
The period between a homeowner's first significant default and the formal start of a foreclosure lawsuit. In NJ, this typically starts when the lender mails the Notice of Intent to Foreclose.
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