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 West Virginia, a lis pendens is a notice that signals there is a pending lawsuit concerning a particular piece of real property. This notice serves to warn all interested parties, especially potential buyers, that the property is subject to litigation and that any ownership acquired during the pendency of the lawsuit may be affected by the outcome. The concept of lis pendens ties the jurisdiction of the court to the property in question while the legal action is ongoing. In West Virginia, the lis pendens must be filed with the county clerk in the county where the property is located, as per West Virginia Code § 40-1-9. This filing is a critical step in real estate disputes, foreclosures, divorce proceedings involving property division, and homeowners' association conflicts over property. The notice becomes part of the public record, ensuring that the information is accessible to anyone performing a title search on the property. This system is designed to maintain transparency in real estate transactions and protect the interests of all parties involved.