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If I go to the county recorder's office and find a record of easements running along the parcel boundaries, how do you access a parcel other than a helicopter if there is no public, in this case, county road to them? One will have to traverse (trespass on) another person's property a great deal even to access the parcel.
Its not trespass if its an easement. That means someone else owns the land, but you are allowed to use their land to access your property. That is the point of an easement.
There should be an easement from a road somewhere to your property.
The easement could have been recorded on your deed six deeds ago. Or it might be on a neighbors property when your property was one parcel and it mentions the easement when subdivided, but the words never made it to your deed.
Its likely buried somewhere, you will have to do alot of research to find it, or pay someone. I've spend days online at the registry going through deed records to find what I want. Its not always obvious.
Its not trespass if its an easement. That means someone else owns the land, but you are allowed to use their land to access your property. That is the point of an easement.
There should be an easement from a road somewhere to your property.
The easement could have been recorded on your deed six deeds ago. Or it might be on a neighbors property when your property was one parcel and it mentions the easement when subdivided, but the words never made it to your deed.
Its likely buried somewhere, you will have to do alot of research to find it, or pay someone. I've spend days online at the registry going through deed records to find what I want. Its not always obvious.
Not all land has access via a road or easement, hence the words "land locked". There was an earlier thread on C-D on easements please check it out.
One of our neighbors used to have an "informal" easement through her brother's land to her 20 acres (left to them by their parents). Unfortunately, by the time that she decided to build her dream house she had had a fight with her brother and he denied her access. Now she has 20 acres and absolutely no way to get to it. It is possible that one of the neighbors may give her access, or sell her a narrow strip of land, but if they do she will have a mile long passage vs. the 1/8 mile through her brother's land. It was sad that her parents did not plan ahead in dividing the land or that she & her brother did not make an easement legally binding while they were still speaking to each other.
If it was me, I would force through the courts, an easement through her brothers land. As they were all one property till the parents separated them by deeding part to one and part to another, the courts will say in nearly all situations that the one property has to have an easement through it for the other property to access theirs. It is part of the principal that you cannot separate any property into parts, and keep one from having an easement through it to reach a public road.
germane, in the example you give, the original property was owned by a single family before division and passing to the children. Therefore, the sister could sue the brother for an easement and would probably win. Have her talk to an attorney. After suing, the case would probably be settled during arbitration and not have to go to a full scale court case. I am not a legal expert but have read some on this situation.
Not all land has access via a road or easement, hence the words "land locked". There was an earlier thread on C-D on easements please check it out.
One of our neighbors used to have an "informal" easement through her brother's land to her 20 acres (left to them by their parents). Unfortunately, by the time that she decided to build her dream house she had had a fight with her brother and he denied her access. Now she has 20 acres and absolutely no way to get to it. It is possible that one of the neighbors may give her access, or sell her a narrow strip of land, but if they do she will have a mile long passage vs. the 1/8 mile through her brother's land. It was sad that her parents did not plan ahead in dividing the land or that she & her brother did not make an easement legally binding while they were still speaking to each other.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oldtrader
If it was me, I would force through the courts, an easement through her brothers land. As they were all one property till the parents separated them by deeding part to one and part to another, the courts will say in nearly all situations that the one property has to have an easement through it for the other property to access theirs. It is part of the principal that you cannot separate any property into parts, and keep one from having an easement through it to reach a public road.
Quote:
Originally Posted by luv4horses
germane, in the example you give, the original property was owned by a single family before division and passing to the children. Therefore, the sister could sue the brother for an easement and would probably win. Have her talk to an attorney. After suing, the case would probably be settled during arbitration and not have to go to a full scale court case. I am not a legal expert but have read some on this situation.
I don't know all of the details, but the sister has been trying for (I believe) almost ten years to get an official easement. I know that she has worked with attorneys and has not been successful.
When I say "neighbor" I mean a neighbor in the area of the farm where I grew up (and I now own with my siblings). Her parents bought the land about 50 years ago and now that I am thinking more about it the land may have originally been part of two separate farms when the parents bought it (but I was pretty little at the time so I may be wrong). So maybe it was always on two different tax keys, but that is only speculation on my part as to why there is such a big problem trying to get an easement.
I haven't lived there in 45 years so I don't know all of the ins & outs of it all but I know that she is having huge problems trying to get that easement from her brother. Through his land is 1/8 mile to a road and through other people's land it is 3/4 mile to a mile to a road.
It is a really sad situation, but not sad enough that any of the other four neighbors that are adjacent to her land will allow her to have a 3/4th to one mile easement through their property
(mainly because her parents as well as she & her brother were never "good" neighbors to anyone else).
The whole point is that getting an easements is not as easy as it looks.
Last edited by germaine2626; 06-27-2015 at 08:59 PM..
Not all land has access via a road or easement, hence the words "land locked". There was an earlier thread on C-D on easements please check it out.
One of our neighbors used to have an "informal" easement through her brother's land to her 20 acres (left to them by their parents). Unfortunately, by the time that she decided to build her dream house she had had a fight with her brother and he denied her access. Now she has 20 acres and absolutely no way to get to it. It is possible that one of the neighbors may give her access, or sell her a narrow strip of land, but if they do she will have a mile long passage vs. the 1/8 mile through her brother's land. It was sad that her parents did not plan ahead in dividing the land or that she & her brother did not make an easement legally binding while they were still speaking to each other.
Quote:
Originally Posted by germaine2626
I don't know all of the details, but the sister has been trying for (I believe) almost ten years to get an official easement. I know that she has worked with attorneys and has not been successful.
When I say "neighbor" I mean a neighbor in the area of the farm where I grew up (and I now own with my siblings). Her parents bought the land about 50 years ago and now that I am thinking more about it the land may have originally been part of two separate farms when the parents bought it (but I was pretty little at the time so I may be wrong). So maybe it was always on two different tax keys, but that is only speculation on my part as to why there is such a big problem trying to get an easement.
I haven't lived there in 45 years so I don't know all of the ins & outs of it all but I know that she is having huge problems trying to get that easement from her brother. Through his land is 1/8 mile to a road and through other people's land it is 3/4 mile to a mile to a road.
It is a really sad situation, but not sad enough that any of the other four neighbors that are adjacent to her land will allow her to have a 3/4th to one mile easement through their property
(mainly because her parents as well as she & her brother were never "good" neighbors to anyone else).
The whole point is that getting an easements is not as easy as it looks.
I wanted to make a second point as well for everyone reading this Real Estate thread. Be careful who you screw as it may come back to bite you in the end.
I asked my older brother about this situation and I was correct that it was the land that her parents bought at a unbelievable low price (probably 20% of it's value) from my second or third cousin over 50 years ago. He was a very poor businessman, probably a slow learner if not actually mildly mentally retarded, who inherited the land from his parents. He got into financial difficulties and was too embarrassed to ask anyone for help so he sold the land before he told anyone else about it. I remember him sitting in our dining room literally crying after the sale when he realized that he would have to move off the farm where he was born and how little he received for the sale. My parents, and others, tried to do something once they knew about it but it was too late.
Not only did her parents take advantage of him (at least that is what all of the neighbors felt) but they, and their children, bragged about "the good deal" and "how cheaply they got the land" for years.
Forward 50 plus years. Daughter needs an easement and two of the adjacent pieces of lands are owned by people who were around when this first happened. My brother told me on Sunday, "As long as I am alive, I will never vote (we have an LLC) to allow her an easement through our land". Of course, if the courts say that we have to do that, we would, but I really doubt that any court would insist on a mile long easement when she is only 1/8 of a mile to a different road (through her brother's land).
My advice is to think long and hard before you decide to cheat someone.
Well I found documents that mention easements along the borders of the parcels, but I am still uncertain as how to get to those easements and how will first responders and government employees access the parcels? I post the question to a county commissioner but haven't received a response back and it's been a month.
Well I found documents that mention easements along the borders of the parcels, but I am still uncertain as how to get to those easements and how will first responders and government employees access the parcels? I post the question to a county commissioner but haven't received a response back and it's been a month.
You need to go to/contact (in person would be better) not a County Commissioner but the Planning and Zoning office of the County.
Well I found documents that mention easements along the borders of the parcels, but I am still uncertain as how to get to those easements
Great. Now you hire a surveyor to mark out the easement and show you where it is. Probably cost you $1,000 or so depending on size and complexity. I suggest you have them double mark the survey marks. One with a wood stake, and one with a metal stake under ground so people cant see it. If your neighbors are jerks, they will throw away all your wooden stakes.
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Originally Posted by Happs
and how will first responders and government employees access the parcels?
First responders can go where ever they want. Typically all states have some type of law that grant gov employees such as assessors rights to access people's private lots.
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