A lis pendens is a pending lawsuit or legal action, or a formal notice of a pending lawsuit or legal action. For example, a lis pendens is an official public notice that a piece of real property has a pending lawsuit or claim attached to it—which may be especially relevant to potential buyers of the property, as a sale of the property will probably not extinguish or resolve the pending claim.

Lis pendens might also refer to the jurisdiction (power, authority, control) a court acquires over property while a legal action is pending. Or lis pendens may refer to a notice recorded in the public records (often county records) in the chain of title to a piece of real property—which is required or permitted in some jurisdictions to put all persons on notice that the property is the subject of litigation or of a claim. This notice informs potential buyers of the property that their future ownership of the property may be subject to other claims.

Lis pendens is often used when spouses are going through the divorce process and their real property assets, for example, have not been finally divided by their agreement or by the court. Banks commonly use the lis pendens process to put the public on notice that a property is in foreclosure. And a homeowners’ association may file a lis pendens when it seeks to foreclose on a homeowner’s home to satisfy delinquent fees or assessments.

The procedure for a lis pendens is usually located in a state’s statutes—often in the property code or in the code of civil procedure, for example.

In Alabama, a lis pendens is a notice that signals there is a pending lawsuit involving a piece of real property. This notice serves to warn all interested parties, particularly potential buyers, that the property is subject to litigation and that any future ownership could be affected by the outcome of the lawsuit. The concept of lis pendens can apply in various scenarios, such as divorce proceedings where property division is not yet finalized, foreclosure actions by banks, or when homeowners' associations seek to enforce payment of delinquent fees. In Alabama, the procedure for filing a lis pendens is typically found in the state's statutes, which may be located in the property code or the code of civil procedure. The notice must be recorded in the public records of the county where the property is located, thereby providing constructive notice to all potential purchasers or interested parties that there is a legal claim affecting the property's title.