Real estate law in South Dakota requires a formal lawsuit to be made when contesting a title. Property titles declare the owners of assets such as cars, diamonds, or antiques. The title represents an object that’s either tangible, intangible, or usable like real estate. Clarifying the ownership of property is difficult at times, so approaching a lawsuit to contest a title requires some forethought. Quiet-action suits happen in order to present a court with a case against a title. Here’s what the lawsuit achieves.
Declares ownership of property
What appears on a title and what was intended might differ. A plaintiff, the one filing the suit, may claim that the title itself was falsified. In real estate law, you’re given time to present your case against a title or to defend it as accurate and true. Once a title action is decided, however, the owners listed on it become irrevocable.
Revises or interprets title clauses
Eliminating ambiguities is how the errors of a title in question are “quieted.” To quiet in this case means to remedy. Defects might exist in a title, resulting from changes in estate owners or from a poorly drafted document. A case can be brought before a judge when a plaintiff contests the quality of a title along with any unprofessional errors it has. The result might be a revised title and thus new owners. Here are some reasons that revisions and clarifications are made in court:
– Death and probate hearings
– Lender and mortgage disputes
– Foreclosures and abandoned properties
– Taxes and beneficiaries
Establishes new titles
In real estate proceedings, it’s possible to end a trial with a new title. A title might have never been found, resulting in one written up. Whether a title exists or not, the clauses and owners can be drafted instantly at the end of a verdict.
Protecting a title from future claims against it happens when you file a quiet title action properly. A plaintiff to who the court grants a title is given ownership of its property but with all disputes against that new title null and void.
