Quiet Title Attorney in Olathe

What is quiet title?

What happens when you need the title to a certain car, house, airplane, boat or other property but are unable to confirm it? You must do so through a quiet title action. An experienced Olathe civil litigation attorney could help you with this process. This involves a lawsuit in order establish title to the property and remove any ambiguity as to ownership, and thus "quiet" any challenges or claims to the title.

This legal action is brought to remove any obscurity on the title so that the plaintiff and those in privity with him or her may forever be free of claims against the property. This lawsuit is also sometimes called a try title, trespass to try title, or ejectment action to recover possession of land wrongfully occupied by a defendant. Seek the help of a lawyer to bring such an action.

At Martin & Wallentine, we have helped numerous clients get title to various properties. Often, the matter is uncontested, and primarily involves your attorney researching, preparing and filing your case in the correct places and giving notice to the correct parties. Sometimes it is contested, which requires more complex litigation by your lawyer.

The most common need for a quiet title action arises when the State refuses to register your vehicle, usually due to a defect since the prior registration or confusion about vehicle identification numbers (VINs). This type of quiet title action is typically uncontested. We add the State as a defendant in your quiet title lawsuit. Generally, the State will have no ultimate opposition to the registration of your vehicle, so long as it is not claimed as stolen, it passes any necessary inspections, and your taxes due on the vehicle are current. Once we have the approval of the State and of any other parties in your case, we are well-positioned to present an agreed Order Quieting Title to the judge for his approval and signature. With this duly executed and filed Order Quieting Title in your hand, the State must register your vehicle.

Quiet Title and Real Estate

As it relates to real estate, a quiet title action comprises a complaint that the ownership (title) of a parcel of land or other real property is defective in some fashion, typically where title to the property is ambiguous. This may occur, for example, where it has been conveyed by a quitclaim deed through which the previous owner disclaims all interest, but does not promise that good title is conveyed. Such an action may also be brought to dispel a restraint on alienation or another party's claim of a non-possessory interest in land, such as an easement by prescription. Other typical grounds for complaint include:

Adverse possession where the new possessor sues to obtain title in his or her own name
Fraudulent conveyance of a property, perhaps by a forged deed or under coercion
Torrens title registration, an action which terminates all unrecorded claims
Tax taking issues, where a municipality claims title in lieu of back taxes owed (or a subsequent purchaser of land at a tax sale files action to gain insurable title)
Boundary disputes between states, municipalities, or private parties
Surveying errors
Competing claims in matters of reversion, remainders, missing heirs and lien holders (this often arises in basic foreclosure actions when satisfied liens are not properly discharged from title due to clerical or recording errors between the county clerk and the satisfied lien holder)

Unlike acquisition through a deed of sale, a quiet title action will give the party seeking such relief no cause of action against previous owners of the property. This applies unless the plaintiff in the quiet title action acquired its interest through a warranty deed and had to bring the action to settle defects that existed when the warranty deed was delivered.

See our Quiet Titles Statute page regarding Quiet Titles and possession issues for further information.