Our home has bogus liens on it.  We are told that we need a quite
title action to remove them.  What is this and can we do it without a
lawyer.

Hi Enshala ~

Simply put, a quiet title action is a lawsuit filed to establish your
title to your home.

As defined on the Law Com website,

     "a lawsuit to establish a party's title to real property
      against anyone and everyone, and thus "quiet" any
      challenges or claims to the title. Such a suit usually
      arises when there is some question about clear title,
      there exists some recorded problem (such as an old lease
      or failure to clear title after payment of a mortgage)..."

You can read the entire definition here,
   - http://dictionary.law.com/definition2.asp?selected=1707&bold=%7C%7C%7C%7C


Yes, you can conceivably do it yourself, but I would think carefully
about trying to do so. Each state has different requirements about who
gets notice of the action and the method in which notice should be
given, and if you fail to do that part correctly, it can conceivably
further cloud the title instead of clearing it for you.

Part of those determinations include parties you may not even think
of, and considering this is your home, the fees paid to obtain clear
title would certainly be worth the chance that a mistake might be made
which could further complicate things.

Using an attorney to assist you makes as much sense as obtaining a
Title Insurance Policy if you were buying a home - it holds the other
party (in this case, the attorney) has done everything necessary to
achieve your goal.

Once the appropriate conditions are met, the court issues its order
giving you clear title to the property.


Google search terms ~
======================

   * quiet title
   * quiet title action


I hope this helps in your decision. I know you'll breathe easier once
you have clear title to your home.

Best of luck,

Serenata
Google Answers Researcher

Dear Enshala ~

Thank you for the rating and thank you, too, for the tip. That was
very generous of you.

I once saw a quiet title action where an unscrupulous owner gave
everyone and his brother a piece of the property for some reason or
another, and there were over 150 liens on the property. It took some
doing to get that mess straightened out.

Good luck on clearing the title on your home,

Serenata