G.L. c. 240, §§ 1–5, 6–10; Bevilacqua v. Rodriguez, 460 Mass. 762 (2011); Abate v. Fremont Investment & Loan, 470 Mass. 821 (2015)
Quiet title and try title in Massachusetts — two statutes, and choosing the wrong one loses
A claim in Massachusetts trial courts · Last verified August 26, 2026
Massachusetts has two actions for clearing a cloud on title, and they are not interchangeable. They sit in the same chapter, they are named almost identically, and choosing wrongly is how these cases are lost on a threshold motion rather than on the merits.
Try title is for an owner in possession with record title who wants to force a specific adverse claimant to prove up or go away. Quiet title is broader, reaches unknown parties, and demands more: the plaintiff has to prove its own title is good.
What the claim is
Something on the record clouds your ownership — an old mortgage never discharged, a defective foreclosure, a stale attachment, a boundary described two ways, a deed from someone who may not have owned the land.
Where the right comes from
G.L. c. 240, §§ 1 through 5 (try title) and §§ 6 through 10 (quiet title).
Try title — §§ 1 to 5
What it requires:
- Possession of the land;
- Record title — an instrument of record showing the plaintiff's ownership; and
- A cloud on that title "by an adverse claim, or by the possibility thereof."
How it works. Try title is a two-step procedure and it is unusual. The plaintiff files, and the court then requires the adverse claimant to either bring an action to try their claim or be forever barred from asserting it. The burden shifts to the person with the competing claim.
What the plaintiff must prove. Superior title, not perfect title. A try title plaintiff prevails by showing title merely superior to that of the respondent — and may prevail by default if the respondent does nothing.
Where. The Land Court has exclusive original jurisdiction over try title, under G.L. c. 185, § 1(d).
Quiet title — §§ 6 to 10
What it requires. The plaintiff must prove sufficient title to succeed — affirmatively, not merely better than the defendant's.
What it reaches. Quiet title can be brought against unknown or unascertained parties, which try title cannot, and produces a decree good against the world rather than against one named claimant.
Where. The Land Court, the Superior Court, or the Supreme Judicial Court.
Which one to bring
Bevilacqua v. Rodriguez, 460 Mass. 762 (2011), is the decision that made this choice consequential. A buyer who took a deed from a bank whose foreclosure was void had no record title — because the bank had none to give — and therefore could not maintain a try title action. Having possession was not enough.
Abate v. Fremont Investment & Loan, 470 Mass. 821 (2015), then confirmed the two-step try title procedure and clarified the standing analysis.
The practical rule:
Bring try title when you hold record title and possession and want to make a specific adverse claimant prove its interest. It is faster and the burden lands on them.
Bring quiet title when your own title is what is in question, when the adverse claimants are unknown or numerous, or when you need a decree binding the world. It is more work and it reaches further.
Bring both, in the alternative, where the answer is uncertain — which is common, because whether a foreclosure deed conveyed record title is often the question in dispute.
How long you have to file
No limitations period on either action. A cloud on title does not expire.
Twenty years is the outer limit on a record owner's right to recover the land, under G.L. c. 260, § 21 — which is the adverse possession period, and the reason a title dispute involving long occupation has a clock even though the title action does not.
What has to happen before you file
A title examination. These cases are decided on the chain of title, and the examination is the case. It also determines which action to bring, because it establishes whether the plaintiff has record title.
What the claim pays
A decree establishing title, which is recorded and clears the record.
No damages, and no multiplier. These are equitable actions about ownership.
No attorney's fees, absent a contract or another statute.
Related relief where pleaded — an order discharging a mortgage, cancelling an instrument, or reforming a deed, and where the cloud was created wrongfully, a chapter 93A claim may carry fees.
Which court
Try title: the Land Court, exclusively, under c. 185 § 1(d).
Quiet title: the Land Court, the Superior Court, or the Supreme Judicial Court.
The Land Court is the specialist forum for both, and its title examination resources are the reason most of these cases go there whichever action is brought.
Who can be sued
The adverse claimant — the bank holding an undischarged mortgage, the heir claiming under an old deed, the neighbour asserting an easement, the party to a defective foreclosure.
Unknown persons, in quiet title, through the statutory procedure for unascertained parties.
Common defenses
- The plaintiff lacks record title, which defeats try title standing — the Bevilacqua problem.
- The plaintiff lacks possession, same result.
- The defendant holds superior title.
- Adverse possession by the defendant, or by a predecessor.
- The plaintiff's title is insufficient, which defeats quiet title on the merits.
- A prior judgment already resolved the question.
What people get wrong
Try title needs both possession and record title. Owning is not enough; occupying is not enough.
A void foreclosure deed conveys no record title. Bevilacqua holds that a purchaser from a bank that never validly foreclosed cannot try title, because the bank had nothing to convey.
Superior title wins a try title case; it does not win a quiet title case. The quiet title plaintiff has to prove its own title is sufficient.
These are not damages actions. They establish ownership. If money is the goal, the claim is elsewhere — fraud, 93A, or a claim on a title policy.
A cloud does not go stale. There is no limitations period on clearing one.
Where it came from
The common law had a gap. A person in possession of land could not sue someone who merely claimed an interest without doing anything about it — there was no trespass, no ejectment, nothing to sue on — and yet the claim made the land unsellable and unmortgageable.
Try title was the first answer, and its mechanism is the interesting part: rather than making the possessor prove ownership against a claim that might be worthless, it compels the claimant to come forward and prove the claim or lose it. The burden goes to the party asserting the encumbrance.
Quiet title came later and does a different job. It is for the owner whose own title needs confirming, or who faces claimants who cannot be identified and served — heirs of a nineteenth-century grantor, holders of an easement described in an unrecorded plan. That reach is why it demands affirmative proof of title: a decree good against the world should not issue to someone who merely outranks the one defendant who bothered to appear.
The foreclosure crisis brought the distinction into focus. Bevilacqua involved a buyer who had paid for a house, held a deed, lived there, and had no record title at all because the foreclosure behind the deed was void. He had the wrong action, and the SJC said so.
Common questions
What is the difference between quiet title and try title?
Try title requires possession and record title and forces the adverse claimant to prove its claim; you win by showing superior title. Quiet title requires you to prove your own title is sufficient, and reaches unknown parties.
Which one should I file?
Try title if you hold record title and possession and are targeting a specific claimant. Quiet title if your own title is in question or the claimants are unknown. Often both, in the alternative.
Where do I file?
Try title only in the Land Court. Quiet title in the Land Court, Superior Court or the SJC.
Can I clear an old mortgage that was never discharged?
Yes — that is one of the most common uses of these actions.
Is there a deadline?
No limitations period applies to the action. But a record owner's right to recover the land runs out after 20 years of another's adverse possession.
Can I recover damages or attorney's fees?
No, not on these claims. They establish title.