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Texas Property Code § 12.0071 establishes the procedural mechanism for expungement of a notice of lis pendens from the real-property records. The provision is the cleanest path to clear an improper lis pendens — the standard is mandatory expungement when one of three statutory grounds is established, and the burden is on the lis pendens claimant to demonstrate probable validity.
A party to the action in connection with which a notice of lis pendens has been filed may move to expunge the notice. The court must hear the motion on the same procedural framework that governs summary-judgment-style motions: the movant attacks the lis pendens; the lis pendens claimant defends.
The court shall order the notice expunged if the court determines that:
Any one of the three grounds independently triggers mandatory expungement. The court has no discretion to deny expungement once a ground is established.
When a motion to expunge is filed, the claimant bears the burden of establishing the probable validity of the real-property claim by a preponderance of the evidence. The presumption runs against the lis pendens; absent affirmative proof from the claimant, the expungement issues.
Where the court declines to expunge but determines monetary damages would adequately protect the claimant, the court may permit the property owner to file a bond in lieu of allowing the lis pendens to remain. The bond mechanism preserves the owner's ability to transact on the property while securing the claimant's potential recovery.
A lis pendens is appropriate only when the underlying lawsuit involves a real property claim — title to land, an easement, a constructive trust on real property, a partition action, a foreclosure of a recorded lien. Money damages claims (breach of contract, quantum meruit, promissory estoppel, tortious interference) do not support a lis pendens, even if the defendant happens to own real property.
This is the strongest expungement ground in many cases. The court reviews the underlying pleading on its face: does the pleading seek title, an interest in title, or a foreclosure remedy? If no, the lis pendens fails on ground 1 without any further factual development.
If the underlying pleading does state a real-property claim, the claimant must still prove probable validity of that claim by a preponderance. The standard tracks summary-judgment-style burdens: the claimant must produce competent evidence of the underlying facts supporting the real-property claim. Conclusory pleadings, hearsay, or inadmissible evidence will not satisfy the burden.
This ground is harder to prove (it requires factual development) but is the path when ground 1 fails — i.e., when the underlying pleading does technically state a real-property claim but the evidentiary record is weak.
The party filing a notice of lis pendens must serve a copy of the notice on each party to the action within three business days after filing. Failure to serve within the statutory window triggers expungement under ground 3.
A common pattern in abusive lis pendens filings: the claimant files a notice that lists multiple properties owned by the defendant, including properties that have no connection to the underlying litigation. The lis pendens "encumbers all of Plaintiff's real property in Bell County" — sweeping in parcels that were never the subject of any contract, lien, or transaction in the litigation.
This is fraudulent claim to an interest in property that does not exist and supports both:
Per Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 12.002, each property encumbered without legal basis is potentially a separate statutory violation — a multi-property lis pendens with no underlying claim can support multiple per-property statutory damage counts.
Another common pattern: an individual defendant files a verified denial disclaiming individual liability (asserting the LLC alone is liable), and then files a lis pendens in their individual capacity against the plaintiff's properties. The two postures are incompatible: a party who has disclaimed individual liability in sworn pleadings cannot simultaneously assert an individual real-property claim sufficient to support a lis pendens in that individual's name.
Under § 12.0071(c)(1), the verified denial functions as a judicial admission against the claimant's real-property-claim-in-individual-capacity assertion. The court can expunge the lis pendens as a matter of law on the face of the pleadings.
A motion to expunge can be filed at any time after the lis pendens is recorded. Courts typically schedule expungement hearings within 30-45 days. The hearing is on the documentary record + the underlying pleadings; live testimony is not required for ground 1 (the pleading-on-its-face ground) or ground 3 (the service ground). Ground 2 (probable validity) may require an evidentiary record but is typically resolved on affidavits + documentary evidence.
The property owner's strategic posture is to move for expungement promptly after the lis pendens is recorded. Each day the lis pendens encumbers the property is a day the owner cannot refinance, sell, or otherwise transact on the property. Expedited briefing schedules are available in most TX district courts.
The expungement remedy under § 12.0071 and the civil cause of action under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 12.002 work in parallel. Expungement clears the cloud; § 12.002 captures damages and exemplary relief.
A property owner facing a clearly improper lis pendens should:
/statutes/cprc-12-002-fraudulent-lien-liability.md] — the civil cause of action for fraudulent lien + lis pendens filings/statutes/property-53-021-persons-entitled-to-mechanics-lien.md] — standing requirement for the predicate lien-or-foreclosure claim/howtos/howto-expunge-lis-pendens.md] — step-by-step practitioner procedure/statutes/penal-37-10-tampering-with-governmental-records.md] — companion criminal exposure for fraudulent governmental-record filingsResearch synthesis, not legal advice. Counsel of record verifies every citation before any filing.