You have a signed contract, a buyer with financing, and a closing date. Then the title search comes back with a notice of lis pendens recorded against the property, and the title company refuses to insure. The lawsuit behind it may take a year, and your buyer will not wait.
That is when most owners first hear of a release of lis pendens bond.
A lis pendens — Latin for "suit pending" — is a recorded notice that a lawsuit affecting title to a specific parcel is pending. It is not a lien and not a judgment. It is a warning label in the public record.
That warning stops transactions cold. Anyone who buys or lends takes subject to the outcome of the case, so:
In most states the notice is recorded without a hearing and without posting anything. The burden of undoing it lands on the owner.
Attack the notice. You move to expunge, discharge, or dissolve, arguing the claim does not actually affect title or that the pleading fails to support the notice. Texas, for example, provides a statutory motion to expunge under Tex. Prop. Code § 12.0071.
Substitute security. You concede nothing about the merits. You ask the court to release the notice because a bond will protect the claimant as well as the cloud on title does. That is what "bonding off a lis pendens" means, and where it is available it is the faster path.
This is the point most surety pages gloss over. Substituting a bond is a creature of state statute. Some states expressly authorize it; others simply do not. States with an express path include:
Texas has no owner-side substitution provision. Section 12.0071 offers expunction on statutory grounds; subsection (g) only lets the court require an undertaking from whichever party prevails at the hearing. Without a bonding statute, the motion is your lever.
Florida is frequently miscited here. Florida has a well-established lis pendens bond practice, but the bond ordinarily runs against the party who filed the notice, not the owner. Where the action is not founded on a duly recorded instrument or a construction lien under part I of chapter 713, the court controls and discharges the notice as it would grant and dissolve injunctions, Fla. Stat. § 48.23(3), and may require the filer to post a bond once the owner shows likely damages. DeGuzman v. Balsini, 930 So. 2d 752 (Fla. 5th DCA 2006).
Have counsel confirm your state and claim type permit substitution before you budget for a bond — or call us and we will look at the statute with you.
The mechanics mirror a construction lien transfer bond. If you have read our explanation of bonding off a mechanic's lien, the logic is familiar: the claimant's security shifts from the dirt to the bond. The property can then be sold or refinanced, and the claimant keeps litigating — looking to the surety and the indemnitors, not the real estate, if they win.
Because this is a defendant-side obligation with no offsetting security in the property, sureties commonly require full collateral — cash, a cashier's check, or an irrevocable letter of credit. That is the bond type, not your credit.
The court sets the penal sum. There is no fixed formula, and it is not simply the sale price. Statutes point courts toward indemnifying the claimant for what they lose when the cloud comes off: California's undertaking must cover all damages proximately resulting from expungement if the claimant prevails. New York and Nevada likewise leave the amount to the court.
Expect the claimant to push for a high number. Get the amount fixed before you order the bond — one written for the wrong penal sum has to be redone.
The vocabulary is confusing, and competitor pages blur it:
Same statutory family, opposite directions. Tell your surety which side you are on — it changes the obligee, the condition, and the underwriting.
The surety needs the order, or at least the motion and proposed order, to know the penal sum and the exact condition. So:
1. Confirm your state authorizes substitution for your claim type
2. File the motion and get the amount set
3. Apply with the order in hand and collateral ready to move
4. File the bond, then obtain and record the order releasing the notice
5. Deliver the recorded release to the title company
Start the surety conversation in parallel with the motion, not after it — see our guidance on expediting bonds under deadline pressure.
Rarely. The recording party can withdraw it voluntarily, which often happens in a settlement. Otherwise you need a court order.
No. It clears the title only. The claim continues on the merits, with the bond standing in place of the property.
It depends on the penal sum the court sets, the bond type, credit, and collateral. There is no flat rate — request a quote once the amount is known.
Jurisco has written court bonds nationwide since 1987, and the people who answer the phone are lawyer-trained — they read your order rather than ask you to summarize it. If a lis pendens stands between you and a closing, call 1-800-274-2663.
This article is general information about surety bonds and court procedure, not legal advice. Consult an attorney licensed in your state about your specific matter.