§ 764.030.Persons Judgment Binding and Conclusive On

Title 10. Actions In Particular Cases · Chapter 4. Quiet Title · Article 5. Judgment · Last amended 1984 · Last verified July 28, 2026

In one sentenceSection 764.030 makes a quiet title judgment binding and conclusive, regardless of any legal disability, on all known and unknown parties who had any claim to the property, and, subject to § 764.045, on non-parties whose claims weren't of record when the lis pendens or, absent one, the judgment was recorded.

Full Text of § 764.030

Text sizeJump to: (a) (b)

The judgment in the action is binding and conclusive on all of the following persons, regardless of any legal disability:

(a) All persons known and unknown who were parties to the action and who have any claim to the property, whether present or future, vested or contingent, legal or equitable, several or undivided.

(b) Except as provided in Section 764.045, all persons who were not parties to the action and who have any claim to the property which was not of record at the time the lis pendens was filed or, if none was filed, at the time the judgment was recorded.

Plain-English Summary

This is the section that gives a quiet title judgment its power — the reason people bring these actions in the first place. Subdivision (a) binds every party, known or unknown, who had any claim to the property, whether present or future, vested or contingent, legal or equitable, whole or fractional. Legal disability, like minority, doesn't create an exception.

Subdivision (b) reaches further, binding even people who weren't parties to the action at all, as long as their claim wasn't of record at the critical moment: when the lis pendens was filed, or, if none was filed, when the judgment was recorded. A claim that surfaces in the public record only after that point doesn't survive the judgment.

That non-party binding effect isn't unlimited, though. Section 764.045 carves out claims that were recorded, or known to the plaintiff, or reasonably apparent from inspecting the property, at the relevant time — those survive the judgment regardless of what subdivision (b) would otherwise say.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a California quiet title judgment establish?

It's binding and conclusive on all parties, known and unknown, who had any claim to the property, and, with narrow exceptions, on non-parties whose claims weren't of record when the lis pendens or judgment was recorded.

Does a legal disability, like being a minor, prevent the judgment from binding someone?

No. Section 764.030 makes the judgment binding regardless of any legal disability.

Can a quiet title judgment bind someone who was never a party to the lawsuit?

Yes, if that person's claim wasn't of record when the lis pendens was filed or, if none was filed, when the judgment was recorded — subject to the exceptions in § 764.045.

Amendment History

Amended by Stats. 1984, Ch. 20, Sec. 1.

Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from the Deering's California Codes Annotated / vLex. Enacted by the California Legislature. Last verified July 28, 2026. · Official source

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