Fee only $1,000.00*, plus costs. Call or e-mail for details

Quiet Title

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSE ONLY. IT IS NOT INTENDED AND IS NOT TO BE INTERPRETED OR USED AS LEGAL ADVICE. EACH LEGAL PROBLEM IS UNIQUE; THEREFORE, CASE SPECIFIC LEGAL ANALYSIS BY A LICENSED ATTORNEY IS RECOMMENDED.

To quiet title means to file a lawsuit. In this lawsuit the tax deed holder is the plaintiff, and the defendants are all persons or entities which held some interest in the property at the time the tax deed was issued. Typical defendants are the prior owner, judgment holders, lienors, and mortgagees, among others. Additional defendants may be appropriate depending on case specific factors and strategy.

The quiet title is filed in the court of the county where the property is situated. For example, to quiet title to a property located in Miami Beach the lawsuit is filed in Miami-Dade County circuit court. If located in Miramar, the lawsuit goes to Broward County court. To quiet tile on a property located in Ellington one needs to file in Palm Beach County.

The quiet title needs to be filed in circuit court. The circuit court has jurisdiction over cases dealing with interest in real property. Quieting title to a tax deed seeks declaratory judgment stating that defendants' interest in the subject real property has been extinguished.

Not every tax deed holder needs to quiet title. The issue is title insurance. Title insurance is something that the tax deed holder can purchase for his/her own benefit, or more commonly, title insurance is something sought by a potential buyer of tax deeded property. To issue title insurance most insurers require that a quiet title be performed on a property acquired via a tax deed. Hence, unless planning on reselling the property in near future one does not need to quiet title. If planning on reselling it but after 5 years, one may not need to quiet title. This last option is a bit tricky because it only works if the title insurance company determines that the county met all the notice requirements when if sold the tax deed.

An uncontested quiet title judgment typically take 60 days to complete If all defendant are timely served and none of the defendants file an objections to the complaint, a quiet title judgment can be obtained for approximately 60 days. This applies to all three counties: Miami-Dade, Broward or Palm Beach. There may be variations depending on a particular judge but the variation should not be significant -- in the order of 30 days. This timeline would not apply if defendants cannot be found or if defenses are filed.

It takes an additional 30 days if certain defendants cannot found. When the prior owner, for example, cannot be found or for some reason service of process cannot be effected, two additional things are needed. One, notice of the quiet title action needs to be published in a local periodical, like the Daily Business Review, for 4 weeks. Second, a guardian ad litem needs to be appointed to represent the interest of the missing defendant. Bought of the above result in more time and additional cost.

The timeline of a contested quiet title action varies. A contested quiet title action is one where at least one defendant makes and appearance and raises defenses. Each case would be different as far as the amount of time it takes as judges, defendant's determination and resources and defenses vary. However it is important to note this: statutorily, the only defense to a quiet title action on a tax deed is that taxes were paid. This is a significant tool to aid the expeditions disposition of defenses. Sanctions for plaintiff may also be warranted which provides additional deterrent against frivolous objections. However, overall there are too many factors to be able to provide a general timeline of contested cases.

* Subject to restrictions and limitations