Should you file a lis pendens in a Palm Beach Probate will contest?

OK, so you are challenging the Florida will, of, let’s say, your late mother. You have hired an aggressive probate litigator in West Palm Beach to handle the will contest lawsuit and you learn that you are fighting over a very, very large estate.  And what you do learn?  The Palm Beach estate lawyer has revealed that the probate contains a very valuable asset :  Florida real estate.   Maybe mom died with a LOT of vacant land and a mansion in Gulfstream or Boynton Beach.  Should you, a beneficiary or heir at law to a Palm Beach probate, or, even someone who got dis-inherited, and is now filing a probate lawsuit in Florida, file a lis pendens on the Florida homestead or real estate?  What if you are a creditor of the Boca Raton probate: can you file a lis pendens?

Filing a Lis Pendens in Probate Litigation

• So, one of the first things which will contest beneficiaries seem to suggest in a Palm Beach probate is to put a lis pendens on the Palm Beach homestead.
• Or, maybe the estate contains a large piece of vacant cattle grazing land in Okeechobee County or a large tract of agricultural land that you think will be sold to a developer in Loxahatchee or Wellington, Florida.
• When does it make sense to file a lis pendens in Florida estate lawsuits?
• Should a Florida probate lawyer put a lis pendens on some Florida real estate just because of a probate claim?
• If you read a recent Florida appellate case about sanctions and lis pendens, you’ll see that Florida lawyers, not just their clients, can be fined and sanctioned for filing a lis pendens without any basis in fact or law.

Probate Litigators Should Be Very Careful About Filing a Lis Pendens

• Lis pendens may be filed only in good faith and with a basis in the law and the facts
• You should NOT file a lis  pendens ONLY to slow things down, muck things up, or interfere with a sale or attempt to be aggressive
• If you do that, you open yourself up to getting sued for slander of title and for sanctions for bad faith conduct
• Why?  Because that’s not proper and if you file a lis pendens in a probate dispute with no basis in facts or in the law, you can open yourself up to sanctions
• Just read the August 7, 2015 Florida 5th DCA case of Massa v. McNutt, 40 Fla. L. Weekly D 1846, 5D14-351.
• You can’t just file a lis pendens just because you have an estate lawsuit, you “might”inherit something, or you have a claim against the Boca Raton estate
• The rules for filing a lis pendens are very specific and they need to be followed. You can, should, ONLY file a lis pendens on Florida real estate when it is appropriate.