A trespass to try title action—sometimes known as an action to quiet title—is a lawsuit against a party who claims an interest in a piece of real property (land).

In a trespass to try title action, the plaintiff seeks to establish the plaintiff’s title (ownership interest) in the land by forcing the adverse claimant (the defendant) to establish or prove an interest in the land or be forever estopped (precluded) from asserting an interest in the land. The resolution of such a lawsuit is designed to settle or quiet a disputed claim to title or ownership of the land.

Laws regarding claims for trespass to try title vary from state to state and may be located in a state’s statutes or in its court opinions (common law or case law). The terms used for such a claim may also vary and in some states there may be a distinction between a trespass to try title claim and a quiet title claim—or a quiet title claim may be treated as an informal reference to a trespass to try title claim.

In Kentucky, an action to quiet title, also known as a suit to remove cloud or to quiet title, is a legal proceeding used to establish a party's title to real property, thereby 'quieting' any challenges or claims to the title. This type of action is used to clear up any disputes over the ownership of land, where the plaintiff asks the court to declare that the adverse claims of other parties are invalid. Kentucky law allows for such actions under the Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS), specifically KRS Chapter 381, which deals with property and ownership laws. The statutes provide the framework for filing a quiet title action, including the necessary pleadings and the potential grounds for such a suit. The resolution of a quiet title action in Kentucky results in a judicial determination of the rightful owner of the property, and it effectively bars the losing party from later asserting a claim to the property. It's important to note that while the term 'trespass to try title' is not commonly used in Kentucky, the principles behind the action are similar to those of a quiet title action.