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 Connecticut, a lis pendens is a written notice that a lawsuit involving a claim on a specific piece of real property has been filed and is pending in court. This notice is typically recorded in the land records of the town where the property is located, which serves to alert potential buyers or other interested parties that the property is subject to litigation. The Connecticut General Statutes, specifically under Title 52 - Civil Actions, provide the framework for filing a lis pendens. The statutes require that the notice must include a legal description of the property, the nature of the claim, and the parties involved. The purpose of a lis pendens in Connecticut is to maintain the status quo of the property's title during the litigation and to warn potential purchasers or encumbrancers that any interests they acquire in the property could be subordinate to the outcome of the pending lawsuit. It is commonly used in cases of foreclosure, divorce proceedings involving property division, and disputes over property ownership or claims of easements.