What is a Quiet Title?

When a piece of real estate is bought, inherited or simply given to another it is not always known if the title is free. In other words, the new owner cannot know automatically if the property is totally theirs or if there are other individuals that may have a claim for partial or full ownership. It is possible that there is an encumbrance or lien against the property or that someone else might come forward to claim that they own the house or land and that it cannot be sold.

To clear up any of these concerns the person intent on buying a residence can proceed with a quiet title. A quiet title action is a type of lawsuit that looks into the background of the real estate and seeks to resolve any problems that may result in terms of ownership questions and so forth. While the way these actions are performed is not the same in every state the process is be basically the same.

If you want to do a quiet title then you must hire a title company to do the necessary work for you. This means that they will do a title search in order to obtain an ownership claim to the property in question. The search that the company does will reveal if any other party can claim to own the property or if there are any encumbrances or liens connected to the title. These items are often referred to as clouds on the title of a piece of real estate. Some clouds pose more of a serious problem to the prospective new owner than do others.

It is important to realize when you decide to do a quiet title that the plaintiff's claim to a piece of land or to a residence is based upon the strength of the claim and not on the weakness of other claims that might be put forth. With the help of the lawyer you have hired to deal with the title the strength of the claim you have can be accessed in comparison to other claims before the expense of the complaint regarding the title can move ahead. In most cases the cost will be around $1,200.

Before you decide to go ahead with a quiet title action you need to know what the laws in your location have to say about them. According to the law the plaintiff in a case must be in possession of the real estate in order to file this particular type of lawsuit.

If the title search discovers that there are clouds which can cause an issue for your ownership claim then you need to hire a lawyer as soon as possible. The attorney can then file a title lawsuit in the court in which the property is found in. These actions will take in the range of three to six months to be brought to a close.