(a) In any action brought to quiet the title to real estate or to have declared invalid or to discharge or to foreclose any mortgage or lien on real estate, if any record owner of the title to such property or any interest therein, or of property on which there is a cloud, is dead and no notice of his death or of the appointment of an executor of the will or administrator of the estate of the decedent can be found in the land records of the town in which the real estate is situated, it shall be presumed for the purpose of the action, if brought pursuant to the provisions of section 52-69, that there is no such executor or administrator unless it appears in the affidavit filed pursuant to the provisions of said section that the plaintiff or his attorney has actual knowledge to the contrary. If the plaintiff does not know whether the record owner is then living, he may make defendants in the alternative the record owner if living and, if the record owner is not living, the parties designated in said section.

(b) The term “heirs”, as used in designating defendants pursuant to section 52-69, includes the heirs at law, legatees and devisees of the deceased, and all persons who might claim under them, and the term “widow” or “widower”, as thus used, includes all persons who might claim under the widow or widower, and any of those persons may appear and defend.

(c) In any such action, if the complaint is verified by affidavit, or if affidavits of fact are filed in court, the court may render such judgment therein, against any defendant not appearing to defend the action, as may be proper upon the facts so set forth, at any time, at its discretion and without further proof.

(1949 Rev., S. 7122; P.A. 79-602, S. 52.)

History: P.A. 79-602 divided section into Subsecs. and made minor changes in wording.

Action against deceased person not brought in compliance with statute a nullity. 117 C. 47.

Cited. 30 CS 135.