NYC Homeowner Targets Former Owners Dead For 100 Years In Lawsuit To Quiet 'Cloudy' Title
- A Queens woman is "summons"-ing the dead -- suing the former owners of her Elmhurst home, who died a century ago. Miriam Castro, 61, has summoned Charles Simonson, Wilder Pallez and their descendants to court to verify past ownership of the property her $700,000 house is built on.
- Chances are they won't answer -- absent a psychic. Castro, who bought the house in 1992, was denied a title-insurance policy last winter because the chain of ownership, dating back to the 1870s, was unclear. "It's certainly not the kind of lawsuit you see very often," said a source familiar with the
case.(1)
Source: Qns. homeowner sues dead people.
(1) The type of lawsuit typically employed to clear up a 'cloudy' title problem on real estate is known as an action to quiet title, although I am informed that in some places, an action for declaratory relief is also a possibility.
For more on actions to quiet title (especially for those in Texas, since this work cites profusely to Texas case law), see this Quiet Title Handbook.
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