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District of Columbia Code Division VIII. General Laws. § 47-1393. Parties;  service of process.

Current as of January 01, 2024 | Updated by Findlaw Staff

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(a) The plaintiff in a complaint filed pursuant to § 47-1392 shall be the District.

(b)(1) Each interested party with an interest in the property shall be named as a defendant.

(2) The title of the complaint shall display the last known address of each defendant, as obtained from:

(A) Any record examined as part of the title examination for the property;

(B) The real property records with Office of Tax and Revenue or land records with the Recorder of Deeds;  and

(C) Any other likely address that is known to the District.

(3) Other than the methods described in paragraph (2) of this subsection, the District is not required to conduct any further investigations or to search any additional record to ascertain an address for a defendant prior to filing the complaint and undertaking the publication and notice as specified in § 47-1394.

(c)(1) Notice to a defendant may be made in any other manner that results in actual notice of the pendency of the action.

(2) If notice is made pursuant to this subsection, the Office of the Attorney General shall file an affidavit with the Court certifying the notice with a description of the method of service used and the time of service.

(d) When the owner of a real property cannot be reasonably ascertained, the unknown owner to the property may be included as a defendant by the following designation:

Unknown owner of [identify the nature of the interest:  fee simple, leasehold, or reversionary] interest in the property [give a description of the property in substantially the same form as the description that appears on the pre-complaint notice], the unknown owner's heirs, devisees, and personal representatives and their or any of their heirs, devisees, executors, administrators, grantees, assigns, or successors in right, title, and interest.

(e) Any complaint filed pursuant to § 47-1392 against an unknown owner shall attach to it an affidavit by the person making the search stating at a minimum that:

(1) The owner of the real property is unknown;  and

(2) A complete search of records for at least 50 years immediately before the filing of the action was performed in accordance with generally accepted standards of title examination of the records of the Recorder of Deeds and the probate decisions of the Superior Court.

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Cite this article: FindLaw.com - District of Columbia Code Division VIII. General Laws. § 47-1393. Parties;  service of process. - last updated January 01, 2024 | https://codes.findlaw.com/dc/division-viii-general-laws/dc-code-sect-47-1393/

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