Posts Tagged ‘real estate litigation’
What is adverse possession?
Posted by: David Leon in Litigation and judgments, Real Estate Law on March 6th, 2009
Adverse possession is a doctrine of law that governs claims on land. Essentially, the doctrine states that if you treat a portion of land as your own for long enough, you can claim that land as your own through the doctrine of adverse possession. This is an oversimplified explanation of a complex legal principle, but it gets the point across. An example of adverse possession would be a neighbor who accidentally builds a fence several feet over a property line. The error isn’t discovered for several decades. During that time, everyone believed the fence to be on the property line. After the expiration of enough time, the person who built the fence could claim the additional foot of land under the doctrine of adverse possession.
What is a “liz pendens”?
Posted by: David Leon in Litigation and judgments, Real Estate Law on March 6th, 2009
A liz pendens is a filing which informs the public of a dispute regarding a parcel of real property. For example, if someone is claiming an ownership interest in land, but is afraid that the person in possession of the land will sell the land prior to a suit being filed, then the person can file a liz pendens, informing a would be purchaser that the property is in dispute. There are heavy penalties if someone wrongfully files a liz pendens.
