Associate Attorney
Carner v. Singer (Fla. 4th DCA June 10, 2026)
If someone owes you money, can you stop them from selling their house until you get paid? In a recent Florida decision involving unpaid child support and alimony, the Fourth District Court of Appeal said the answer, in most cases, is no. The court also said that anyone who files the paperwork to try is taking a real risk.
What happened
A former husband and former wife divorced, and their settlement agreement became part of the final judgment in 2015. Years later, the former wife went back to court to enforce that agreement, asking the court to make the former husband pay child support and alimony he had not paid.
Separately, the former husband’s mortgage servicer had started foreclosure on his home. To try to resolve that, he listed the house for sale at $2,497,000 and looked for refinancing offers. Four days after the listing, the former wife recorded a document called a “notice of lis pendens” against the house.
The house eventually sold for $1,650,000, which is $847,000 less than the original listing price. The former husband sued, claiming the filing was wrongful and caused that loss. His lawsuit was against the former wife’s attorneys, among others. The trial court dismissed it. The appeals court reversed.
One important caution: the case reached the appeals court on a motion to dismiss. At that stage, the court assumes the former husband’s allegations are true. Nothing here is a final finding that anyone is liable. The case now goes back to the trial court.
What is a lis pendens?
“Lis pendens” is Latin for “pending lawsuit.” It is a notice recorded in the public records that tells buyers and lenders that a lawsuit involves a particular piece of property. Anyone who buys or takes a loan on the property is bound by how that lawsuit ends.
In practice, it works like a cloud on the title. As the court noted, an open lis pendens generally keeps the owner from selling or borrowing against the property. Few buyers or lenders will move forward with one in place.
Why the court said this one was improper.
The court explained that a lis pendens must have a “fair nexus” to the property, meaning the lawsuit has to actually be about the property itself, such as who owns it or whether a lien attaches to it. A lawsuit that is mainly about getting money does not qualify, even if a win might one day lead to a lien on the defendant’s house.
Applying that idea here, the court held that a request to enforce unpaid support is a request for money. The house was not part of the dispute. It was only a place the former wife might someday collect from. The court put it plainly: a property that might one day be foreclosed on to satisfy a future judgment is “a textbook example of what not to subject to a lis pendens.” The court added that the family law setting “bears little on the inquiry.”
The former wife’s side pointed to a Florida statute that lets a family court act when a spouse is “about to remove himself or herself or his or her property out of the state, or fraudulently convey or conceal it.” The court said that statute did not fit. Nothing suggested the former husband was leaving the state or hiding the house. He was selling it openly through a real estate agent. Worry about what he might do with the sale proceeds did not justify clouding the title before the sale.
“But lawyers can’t be sued for what they file, right?”
Not exactly. Florida has a “litigation privilege” that protects people, including lawyers, from being sued over what they say and do as part of a court case. The goal is to let participants speak and act freely in litigation.
The attorneys argued the privilege protected them. The court disagreed, at least at this early stage. It reasoned that the privilege does not bar a claim when the wrong being alleged is the improper filing of the lis pendens itself. The court noted that its own earlier decisions had treated a wrongful lis pendens that lacked the required connection to the property as outside the privilege.
What this means for everyday people
This decision involved lawyers and appeals, but the practical takeaways are simple:
- If you are owed support or another debt, a lis pendens is not a shortcut. Courts have other tools to enforce support orders, and the court pointed to contempt as one example in this opinion. Talk with a lawyer about which tools fit your situation.
- If you are selling a home and someone records a lis pendens, you may have options, including asking the court to dissolve it. Delay can be costly, so speak with an attorney promptly.
- If you are thinking about filing one, know that a wrongful filing can lead to a lawsuit for damages, and this decision suggests the litigation privilege may not shield it.
This post is general information about a court decision, not legal advice. Every situation is different. If you have a question about your own case, contact an attorney.