Neighbor was trying to overstep his bounds working dirt on my property without permission ....some internet lawyer said an easement grants right of passage across property; and ends there.

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triggers dog-pile egomaniacs

the last pic is acceptable ......somewhat!

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triggers dog-pile egomaniacs

I have dealt with both easement and right of way. I tend to agree with your lawyer on easement, right of ways are conditional...for example if you have a power line and transformer on your property the electrical company has a right of way to repair it, etc. It sort of makes sense from a literal view, someone may ease onto your property to gain access to their property, that doesn't give them the right to come and go as they please. A power company or city as the Right to have a way to get to their structure, etc. I was involved in a dispute over whether or not someone was allowed to use someone's property for access to their property after someone new bought the piece they wanted to cross. This situation got ugly fast, the old lakefront owner had used the backside of another owner's property to quite literally gain access to their property for decades, nobody cared they were all friends. A new family moved into the lot that had been used for access and decided they did not want to have a caravan of cars going through their backlot and put up a fence. The old family went crazy and tore down the fence and used the driveway that had been used for decades, the new family hired a lawyer and prevailed cutting them off. The old family was forced to spend thousands of dollars putting a roadway that zigzagged down the hill, it was monumental and a major source of gossip for the lakeside community.

We’ve had several disputes at deer camp over deeded access through another property. The only ones who make out well are the lawyers.

I suggest keeping good relations with your neighbors and opening communications. If he improved your road to access his property, thank him and ask him to please keep you informed in the future.

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"I also cook."

When we bought our 4 1/2 acres cut out of a 80 acres the owner had his attorney place an easement saying that he or anyone he designated could cross our property to gain access to the field behind our property. The former owner kept an old granary to keep a tractor in and he needed access to that and his brother still had item in the granary , also.
I did not have problem with him or his brother but under the terms the renter of the rest of the acreage could cross out property with his large tractor and I could not stop this.
I called the attorney and stated my objections and I spoke to the person we were buying the land from and we agreed to the easement for him and his brother only.
I bought the old granary and when we sold the property I explained why the easement was on the abstract but explained it was now null since I had bought the granary.

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SWCA 1932 SWHF 135

He didn’t improve any road that I travel......AND, I don’t ask’ anyone to inform me of their plans to alter my property. After this recent event of him attempting to cut a ditch 20 ft off of the roadway..... he is well aware of who is going to ‘please’ who.

During this discussion..... he spouted off the top of his head that he is entitled to a 50 foot easement....,, total BS....

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triggers dog-pile egomaniacs

Talk to a local lawyer who deals in those matters,it may save you a lot of aggravation and later expenses. Good relationships are nice but if you are not careful you may be making things you don’t want possible.

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Hue 68 noli me tangere

The county tax appraisal claims the L & N railroad has almost 4 acres of easement that I don’t have to pay taxes on. That is NOT the railroad’s claim, they legally have 16 feet either side from the center of the tracks for travel and maintenance. The railway barely clips one corner of the property. Any mathematicians want to calculate how far a sixteen foot easement would have to travel taking up 4 acres.

Fifteen feet is plenty of easement for vehicular travel .... or a D9 caterpillar to pass thru

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triggers dog-pile egomaniacs

When we bought the very rural property back in1985 our lawyer checked and there were no easements recorded and that went for the power company. Course its more on a moot point as if the company wants to come up here there working on doing a power restore or upgrade I'm not going to stop them. More likely to bring them coffee or soda if there up here. (which I have done)

Now ROW is a different subject. After we had our property I had a chance to get a small irregular piece of vacant land (a 1/2 acre) sort of in the middle of mine and two other properties. Price was very low as about the only thing the present owner could do was pay taxes on it. Now that had a deeded right of way from long ago which was in my favor.

Since then that ROW has helped me out as the people on the other side were the type that if you gave them a inch they took a couple miles.

I'm the type of person that wants to have a peaceful home and not have neighbor problems, but they forced the issue. I'm here year around and they are summer people.

To make a long story much shorter, situation got bad and I hired a good Real Estate attorney. Not one that just looks at your deed and charges a few buck to tell you all is OK when you purchase, but a attorney you hire if WM want to put up a store next door. Yeah it cost me some decent money but the end result the summer folks were put on notice and have been good neighbors since. Who cares if we do not talk or wave at each other, the silence is quite good.

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

When it needs done.... just do it. LOL

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triggers dog-pile egomaniacs

A 32’ wide strip that takes up 4 acres is over a mile long.

A 16’ easement “either side from the center of the tracks” is a 32’ wide swath.

1 acre = 43,560 square ft
4 acres = 174,240 square ft

174,240 sq ft/32 ft = 5445 ft

5445 ft x 1 mile/5280 ft = 1.03125 miles

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"I also cook."

May want to get familiar with adverse possession laws also. Long term use of land without permission can give the trespasser legal rights to the land-right up to ownership.

Thanks @s&wchad......the railroad passes thru a corner of the property that would only have room enough for a person to stand on across the tracks. So, technically my property being on only one side of the railway, It is a 16 foot easement as someone else owns the 'other' side of the tracks. Which further proves the absurdity of an almost 4 acre claim.

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triggers dog-pile egomaniacs

A local man who owns land adjacent to the airport took it to court when the airport constructed a fence thru his backyard. He, being a crop duster had kept the land mowed so he could access the runway crossing said property with his plane without having to rent a hanger. He maintained and illegally used that property for his benefit over twenty years. Guess what?? The fence still stands and the airplane is parked in his yard....without runway access.

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triggers dog-pile egomaniacs

When I was growing up on our family farm, there was a big gas pipeline that crossed several of our fields and pastures. I don't remember how wide the easement was. But the first time when they were working on the line and they used our field to turn trucks around, Dad jumped all over them and from then on, they had to back their trucks half a mile back to the county road.

I keep up on that subject. At least in NY state there are many different scenarios that could occur. From what I have seen most times the person who wins the dispute is the deed holder of record. The law most definitely is in the deed holders favor.

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

My understanding in Arkansas is that you can not land lock someone's
property. That being said the easement must follow the shortest distance
to the property from a public access roadway. Hence the easement just
can not wander around crossing others land.
And also property line fence if established for a certain number of years
may become the new property line. 7 years come to mind.
There was an easement on my property when we bought the place which
at this time would require a bulldozer to clear or one could walk on the
20 foot easement.

In most jurisdictions, you have to pay the property taxes during your adverse possession to mount a serious claim . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

Hmm. Small airport makes itself secure in these times of Homeland Security and very active drug smuggling by plane to the Southern states. Yeah, I think I could have guessed that outcome, and I'm not a lawyer and haven't stayed at a Holiday Inn for a while.

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Release the Kraken

He thought he at least deserved a gate. I’ll happily let someone mow my yard for twenty years without pay..... But.... that will never make them the owner of the property

That same guy used to chase us when he caught us drag racing down the runway in the wee hours of the morning.... smiling right now with the memories of drunken passengers leaning out the window throwing beer cans at his Maverick chasing my Trans Am. He reported to the law that we were on the runway to retrieve drugs dropped from a plane. LOL.....a few years back I helped him push that old Maverick outta the road when it broke down. LOL

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triggers dog-pile egomaniacs

Years ago when I bought my current house I remember there being a mention to the fact that Standard Oil owned the northern most 12' of my property and I could not do anything on that portion. For years I parked my truck and camper on that spot just the other side of my shop, stored lumber on it, dumped used oil into a hole dug to "give it back to the oil company" (I apologize for my short sightedness) About twenty years ago we got a letter from Standard Oil that was signed by a bank of attorneys some of who's names I recognized as being famous. They did a survey of this piece of land which stretches from the gas depot completely across this town to the other side, painted a yellow strip on the sidewalk and made a point of notifiying any and all that were encroaching on their right of way. It turns out my shop was built 3.85' over the line, even though it was built with a permit, somebody forgot to measure the line properly and that is one of the many reasons we take out title insurance when purchasing a piece of property. We got a special dispensation which will not pass onto the next owner. We were also told it would be highly unlikely they would ever need to dig up a gas pipeline, but if so there was no guarantee they would not damage my building. My neighbor has an inground swimming pool that is also over the line, one guy had to remove a television antennae array that was right in the middle. The original land owner sold that right of way to Standard Oil for $50 per lot, he made a killing at that time and was very successful, its amazing to see the number of lots, the total length of the line is at least six miles.
My sons father in law owns land adjoining Inland Paper which adjoins a State Park. He and only he has permission to open the gate and ride horses onto the I.P. land and then directly onto State land, its a pretty sweet deal, it pays to have a good attorney. As everyone knows the difference between a good attorney and a bad one is at least fifteen years.

Good for you. You absolutely did the right thing. Land titles can be very involved and complicated. I was a title insurance agent/title examiner for 38 years. I've always described a title examiner as being part lawyer, part title abstractor, part surveyor, part cartographer (plotting legal descriptions of real property), part code breaker (for reading all those old handwritten documents) and part architect (if you are dealing with condominium plans). At least back in the county where I used to work the people who can cover all these attributes are getting fewer and fewer as the old land title attorneys die or retire.

I was an expert witness in court on a case back in the early 2000s that dealt with a granted right of way that was created in 1870. I had to have the title run back to 1870 for the three properties that were subdivided from a larger farm where the right of way was granted benefiting and burdening the three smaller farms. The default position is that a granted right of way lasts in perpetuity. When I testified, I stated that with the precision that was used back in 1870 in describing the three new parcels of land, when the grant for the right of way stated it was 5 feet wide, that was the clear intent of the grantor of the right of way, and that the defendants were only entitled to use a 5 foot wide lane for access.

This is why you buy title insurance for yourself.

I suspect that the right of way laws vary considerably from state to state.The only real solid answer you will get is from a lawyer who handles easement disputes in your state. One who is experienced in such disputes being every bit as much of a qualifier as the in your state part.