Neighbor's driveway on my land (city hall, insurance, squatters)

[IAMaltec]

We recently inherited land from my parents. They had it surveyed in the summer of 2008. It seems the neighbor has built his driveway to his home right thru a corner of our land. I do not know the neighbors who did it, but I do know they have been wanting my parents land for several years because of the letters they have written them. I really have no idea how to approch them about it as we would like to fence the land in. Would they have squatters rights? Is this legal in Missouri? How in the world would you handle this? Any suggestions would help.
Thanks,
AL

[Lake Junkie]

Originally Posted by IAMaltec

We recently inherited land from my parents. They had it surveyed in the summer of 2008. It seems the neighbor has built his driveway to his home right thru a corner of our land. I do not know the neighbors who did it, but I do know they have been wanting my parents land for several years because of the letters they have written them. I really have no idea how to approch them about it as we would like to fence the land in. Would they have squatters rights? Is this legal in Missouri? How in the world would you handle this? Any suggestions would help.
Thanks,
AL

Al,
I'd suggest you talk to the neighbor. The current owner may not be the one who built the driveway and may not realize it is on your land. If you can't work it out, and you definitely want that land, you'll need to get an attorney and let a judge decide.

As far as property rights, there are a lot of variables according to Missouri state law. It's going to depend on how long the driveway has been there, etc. Before you spend any money on an attorney, I'd bake some cookies and take a walk next door.

[luzianne]

I live in Kansas (Johnson County). We got a new driveway last summer. The contractor said that he always moves the driveway six inches from where the property line is supposed to be, because one time when he put it exactly where the property line was, the neighbor threw a fit and he had to come back and cut the edge of the new driveway they had just put in. He said he just makes it a policy now to make the driveway 6 inches in from the property line.

[caturpilar]

As mentioned, the driveway could have been there for a while and may have an easement. If so, an easement can remain in place even if the property changes owners. You should check into that. The city recorder of deeds should have that info.

[Towhee]

I agree on the easement. We gave an easement to the new neighbors below us. That was several years ago. It is recorded at the county courthouse. Our own driveway may 'infringe' on both of the properties bordering ours. The acreage on upper side was originally ours, but we sold it some time ago. It now has new owners. If they should decide to have a survey, they will probably discover that several feet are on a corner of what is now their land. We sold the acreage as 17 acres more or less. The very beginning of our drive is on my husband's cousin's small, ( about 3 acre), wedge of land. We bought our land from that cousin. He never objected to where the driveway entered our property (24 years ago). I suspect that if that small peice of land was sold, the new owners may question the head of our driveway. I do not know about Missouri laws, but here, if a road has been in use for a lengthy period of time, with no objections to it use, it becomes a permenant road (unless the government decides to take over the land...but that is another story).

But then, there are instances that make me question the laws here. One cousin decided the county road was on his property, and he built a fence along one side of it, IN the road. Nothing was ever done about that! It narrowed the road down to where two vehicles cannot pass in that section of county road. I went to the county judge about it twice, but nothing was done about it.
It is the only road that gives us access to our land, so we are stuck with it. We have a new county judge now, but it is propably too late to correct the situation.

[lone sailor]

Al - Welcome to CD.

You need to go to call or visit your city hall or county courthouse and find out if there is a legal easement issued on your property for said neighbor. If there is not such a finding, approach the neighbor with the gentlest of attitudes and tell them that you noticed there was no easements filed for your property in order for them to get to their house, field, etc. If they can prove there is an easement agreement, then they have a case. If they can not provide such documentation, then they have no rights to cross onto your property even if there is no other way to access it. Also, make absolutely sure of where your property lines are, so that you don't have to insert foot into mouth later on. You might go ahead and spend the couple hundred bucks on a surveyor so that you will have your i's dotted and your t's crossed when it comes to your property lines. Hope that helps.

[Northwoods Voyager]

Hello: I am not an attorney and therefore I cannot give legal advise. However, I will suggest that you contact the surveyor that was recently used. Are the surveyor's stakes still in place? Do you have a copy of the original survey? Do you have a copy of the Title Insurance, abstract , or any other document showing the legal description?

You state that you do not know the neighbors; contact the Recorder of Deeds office in the county in which your property is located. Request information concerning the neighbors in question and any description of their land, if possible. Then, and only then, sit down with these documents and ascertain what you have. Then contact this neighbor with your information. Title insurance or an abstract should show any easements that may have been granted and/or recorded.

If the existing easement is the only ingress and egress to the neighbor's land, this also should have been determined and recorded at some time in the past. I would suggest that you utilize any and all contact with the court house personnel as much as you can. Good luck to you and please inform us as to how this situation progresses.