Lis pendens
A recorded notice that a lawsuit affecting a property is pending; in Florida, usually the first public sign of a foreclosure.
Lis pendens is Latin for "suit pending." It's a notice, recorded in the county's official records, that someone has filed a lawsuit affecting a piece of real estate. Anyone who buys the property or lends against it afterward is on notice of the case.
In Florida, where every foreclosure is a lawsuit, the lender records a lis pendens when it files the foreclosure complaint. That makes it usually the first public record that a home is in foreclosure. How Florida foreclosure works
The Florida lis pendens also starts a 30-day clock: someone with an unrecorded interest or lien on the property has 30 days after it's recorded to ask to join the case. If they don't and the property is sold, the sale clears those interests. A lis pendens normally stops working a year after the case is filed, unless the case is based on a recorded document, as a foreclosure of a recorded mortgage is.
The filing date matters later, too. Florida presumes that whoever owned the property of record on the day the lis pendens was filed is entitled to any surplus after the sale (see excess proceeds).
California and Texas use lis pendens for lawsuits over property as well, but most foreclosures there don't involve a court case. You'll see a notice of default or a notice of sale instead.
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General information, not legal advice. For your own situation, talk to a lawyer.