Landlocked Property in Milam Co. (attorney, income, retire)

[msjoyce]

I am being denied access to my property in Milam county Texas. The property is landlocked and has been in my family for over a century. It was purchased by my father’s father as a token of freedom for the toil, blood, sweat, and tears shed when he was freed from slavery. I find it ironic that today we are still not free to use the land because it is landlocked. It has been over ten years now. The first attempt to negotiate access began in 1990 and proved to be fruitless. Numerous contacts with neighboring property owners have been unsuccessful. I feel we have no other option at this time other than to seek legal action and acquire an easement by necessity. I am a disabled veteran. My wife and I are both retired with a fixed and limited income. We cannot afford and wish to avoid the cost of litigation. When the property was transferred as part of the deed, a road appurtenant to the land was included in the grant. The road that was used for many years when the family lived on the land has since been abandoned. Neighbors surrounding the property are unwilling to allow us access. They are infringing and grazing their cattle on our land without permission. Any assistance, intervention or advice would be greatly appreciated. We pray that a settlement can be reached without litigation. Thank you for your time and any advice or help that you may be able to provide.

[loves2read]

you need an attorney
you won't get what you want without one and maybe not then
you waited too long probably--if land is abandoned and used by others for seven years I think it reverts to people who use it

are you paying taxes on this land--how large is it

[peacewood]

this is no fun. As far as I know, Texas has the longest "hostile easement" requirement, or prescriptive easement. It's for sure time to either prevent your neighbors from "hostile" use, or give them permission to graze. If they have permission, they cannot later sue you and win the use through prescription. Although there are exceptions it takes 19 years in Texas to get this type of easement.
Of course you might not know all of you neighbors grazing there, and giving them all permission just to be safe might damage your property.

Also you can deny them access and use just one day a year and that will prevent them claiming, "enjoyment" of your property.
best of luck with this.

[TexasHorseLady]

Definitely get an attorney's advice on this one. It can get very complicated, but if there was a deeded easement, you should stand a chance, IF you get an attorney.

[Poltracker]

Yep, you need an attorney ASAP. Easement rights are never extinguished but you have to assert your rights. As of now, you may lose your property to adverse possession if you do not do everything right.

[Pipeweld]

I know of one rancher that this happened to years ago. Through inheritance of the original ranch that got cross ways they tried to deny access to another relative. She took it to court and won and got access across one of the other properties. There is a law in Texas that prevents other from denying access to your property. This was written when the big ranches where trying to force someone to sell out by denying access.

[texdav]

There is alot more than just you who bought land with no acesss agreement with other land owners. I know people who loss and never got accesss;just sold the lans to another land owner. Many don't want peole driving thru their land especaily new comers I guess. Soe land comes with access whehn the land was splitup tho.

[TexasHorseLady]

texdav, in this particular case, evidently there was a deeded easement that fell out of use. They didn't buy the land; it's been in their family for generations.