When any lis pendens in an action or proceeding to enforce a lien has been filed and recorded in the office of the judge of probate, as prescribed in Sections 35-4-131 and 35-4-132, the person owning or claiming the land described in the lis pendens may at any time, before a judgment is entered enforcing the lien, nullify the notice given by such lis pendens by executing a bond with sufficient surety in double the amount of the fair market value of the land described in the lis pendens and as to which the lis pendens is to be nullified, the amount of the bond and the surety or sureties thereon to be approved by the judge of probate. The bond shall be payable to the judge of probate and conditioned to pay any sum of money found to be a lien against such land, up to the fair market value of the said land, said payment to be made by 12:00 noon of the day and at the place appointed for the sale thereof. When said bond has been taken and approved by the judge of probate, he shall make a notation of the same on the margin of the record of the lis pendens and on the margin of the record of the lien referred to in said lis pendens. If the makers of such bond do not make payment according to the conditions thereof, the court officer advertising the sale of such land shall within five days thereafter forfeit said bond and issue or have issued from the proper court officer, without delay, an execution on the forfeited bond against all the obligors therein for the amount found to be a lien upon said land relieved and released by said bond, up to the fair market value of said land so relieved and released, together with all lawful costs, all of which shall be endorsed on the said execution. The judge of probate of each county in the State of Alabama shall keep in his office as a public record a suitable book, appropriately designated, in which all such bonds shall be recorded and properly indexed. The judge of probate, for the services required of him, shall receive a fee of $1.00 for approving the said bond and $.15 per 100 words for recording said bond, which fee shall be paid by the person filing the same.
Last modified: May 3, 2021