A lis pendens is a document that an attorney files when a lawsuit affects real property. The lis pendens puts the rest of the world on notice that this property has a legal dispute going on and that they’re going to be buying this property subject to that legal dispute. It’s essentially used when you want to tie up real estate so that the person you’re suing can’t sell it, mortgage it, or do something with the property prior to the resolution of the lawsuit.

A partition lawsuit is when you own real property in Florida with another person. You’re essentially asking the court to divide the property between the two of you. If it’s land with acreage, that’s often something that can be accomplished, but in most cases, when there’s a home or a home in a subdivision involved, the court, actually instead of dividing the property will order the sale of the property and have the proceeds divided accordingly.

Adverse possession is a way of obtaining a title to a property, that isn’t commonly seen today. It’s when you possess the property of another person open and notoriously. You’re paying the taxes, potentially, on their land for the proscribed period, which is a seven year period. If you’ve occupied someone else’s property for that period of seven years, and met all the other requirements of adverse possession, for instance you can bring a quiet title action to get the property put into your name under a theory of adverse possession.

If a party breaches a contract, the remedies available to the other party depend on what’s in the contract and whether the contract excludes specific remedies that would be typically available under the law. The most common remedy would be money damages to make the person whole again in the event of a breach of the contract, but also specific performance. That’s when you ask the court to make the seller perform the deal and there are a variety of other remedies, depending on the situation.

An unlawful detainer is when someone is occupying or possessing your property and they are not a tenant. For instance, you may have invited this person to stay in your home temporarily and now you’ll find that they don’t want to leave. The police aren’t really equipped to handle that situation so it must go through the civil court system. An unlawful detainer is similar to an eviction, but the difference is the person is not a tenant. They’re not paying rent. They’re just refusing to leave your property.

A quiet title action is a type of lawsuit in Florida that is sometimes required when there are defects in the title. For instance, an old mortgage or a spouse didn’t properly sign a deed in the past or the property was sold at a tax auction. A quiet title action is essentially an action where the judge will declare who the title holder is at the end of the proceeding, and you will be able to move forward with a clear title from that day forward.

Once the complaint has been filed, we will have a legal process server serve process on the other side. The other side will have 20 days to respond to the complaint, and then we will begin the litigation process.

In Florida, co-tenants or co-owners of property have a right of partition, which means they can force a sale of the property if the parties can’t agree on whether or not to sell the property. As long as they haven’t in writing agreed to not sell the property at the time of purchase, one of the parties can file a partition action and ask the court to force a sale of the property and split the proceeds accordingly.

Civil litigation begins with the filing of a complaint. When you think you may have a lawsuit, you will meet with an attorney and go over the facts of the case. The attorney will then draft a complaint, which alleges what the other side has done wrong or why you are suing them.

Civil litigation can end in a variety of ways. Oftentimes, you can reach an agreement with the other side through mediation. You may go to trial and either get a judgment for or against you, or the case could be dismissed at any part during the process.