Sued as third party- any advice?

[Katie Zwang]

In August 2025, we received a letter from an attorney stating very general information about a lawsuit happening regarding a property my Husband sold 9.5 years ago. The letter stated he was obligated to tender a defense for the buyers due to the statutory warranty deed and to contact the office immediately.

We contacted an attorney on his behalf and he sent off a letter to try to figure out what next steps would be. Their attorney waited until days before the deadline to demand an answer to tender the defense after not hearing anything for over a month. It felt like we were being to forced to accept but the attorney couldn’t clearly explain any of the reasons/options at the time so we opted to find other counsel. We’ve since retained a different attorney but have been added as a third party to the lawsuit because we sent an email stating we weren’t accepting or denying tender but had contacted both title and homeowners insurance to see what coverage might be available to cover the issues. At that point, we hadn’t been served and were not a part of the proceedings.

Since then, title insurance has denied the claim since it only covers the property when he owned it. We’re still waiting to hear back from our homeowners/umbrella policy on coverage.

He also paid for the title insurance for the new owners when the sale was complete. They opted not to file a claim that would cover the lawsuit.

When He sold the property, the land to the south was raw and undeveloped. The boundary by acquiescence came about after the people that bought our home built a fence and drama started. They had a survey done and the boundaries shifted a bit from where they thought the property lines were. They have about 10ftx600ft of the property to the north by adverse possession since it’s been maintained by multiple owners for the last 40 years or so. Including a driveway and part of a detached garage. The northern neighbors have no recourse at this point. It was clearly stated that there was no survey to the property on the disclosures when he sold. I was never on the title, loan or part of the sale as we weren’t married then.

Since they’ve added us both as third party defendants, we’re just looking for any advice or possible solutions/ideas.

[Peter Walther]

This is another situation where it is impossible to have an informed opinion without seeing the chain of title, complaint filed by the neighbors and your husband's title policy.  The post is also a little unclear as to who is claiming a boundary line by acquiescence or title by adverse possession, both of which are fact-based claims and can be difficult to prove.  The fact that there wasn't a survey done at the time your husband conveyed the property may not come in play if the neighbors are claiming title to property described in the deed he signed.  A deed describes the land being conveyed, it doesn't opine where on the face of the earth the property lies.  That's what the survey is for.  I'm unsure why you would have been named in the suit if you were not on title and didn't sign the deed.  Without seeing the denial letter I'm unsure why the title insurer would have denied coverage but as a clarification, generally a title policy only covers matters which arise prior to the insured's ownership, not during or after the insured takes title.  If the complaint alleges the plaintiff's cause of action arose during your husband's ownership, then yes, it might not be covered, but if there is anything alleged that could ever be covered, I believe the insurer would be obligated to provide a defense.  In any event, I believe that you need to have the opinion of a good real estate litigation attorney to give you actionable advice.