Legal question

• Hobby farm

ok,so the neighbor has an easement to get to his property,there is no law that says you have to bear all the maintenance so he can get to his land,if it were me i would send him a bill for half the cost of the rock and grading and if he doesent pay it,i would have my lawyer send him a letter telling him to help keep up the road or not be allowed to use it.

In the meantime you have to start to gather up evidence and any writings and past procedures and pictures and what took place WHEN in a nice orderly chrnologial fashion. The better you have all that summarized the easier n cheaper it will be if you go to an attorney. Look for LSO or other free or cheap initial consultation and around here, myself included, theres NO charge for an initial appointment.

Sorry I cant help much now as you have ALWAYS been willing to lend a hand n help others here but Im headed to Moline Illinois for the Gathering of the Green n have to put on 3 Seminar Workshops concerning our beloved Deeres PLUS all I can do now is ask a ton of questions before I could provide any legal opinions or advise you more.

Start gathering records and evidence and a recored of what happened when in the meantime. Once Im back home feel free to call me for a chit chat buttttt t Im NOT licensed to practice in your state anyway so my best advice is to seek out some initial free local legal consultation.

God bless ya Rich, keep us posted

John T Nordhoff The Country Lawyer in Bloomington Indiana

• Hobby farm

I'm not being a wise guy here - but I have met many people with land problems - and they'd never actually read their own deeds.

I recently bought some land that was subject to a long standing dispute - over 20 years. The one guy felt he had a right to use a driveway on a neighbor's property - but that neighbor put a gate on the driveway for 20 years -and there were constant hard feelings about it. Well, I bought the land last Fall, pulled the deed - and there was an court-ordered easement attached to that deed. The guy who had been locked out for 20 years had the rights on his deed all that time - but never read the deed to find out. Now I own the land and I have keys to that gate.

Many old deeds and easements were written without much information. In my area of New York, the county registrar won't allow easements in deeds unless they are described properly and mapped. I've had a few rejected for lack of information. If the description doesn't really describe anything seems it doesn't mean very much. But, prior use comes into play. Utility Companies used to purposely write vague descriptions for easements so it was very difficult to stop them from doing anything. I've got some property up in the Adirondack Mountains - and the power company has a 70 year-old easement on my land that states - they can enter whenever, whereever, and do whatever they deem necessary to maintain their power lines. And, they make it clear that it will be up to them - to decide what is neceessary, and what is not. That's about as open-ended as you can get.

• Hobby farm

The situation I mentioned about the land I bought has an easement by court order. It is only briefly mentioned on the deed, and I had to go and get the actual court order to find out exactly what the easement is. It's two pages long and complicated, but pretty much covers every contingency.

In regard to words and phrases - if you don't understand, go look them up. Just remember that words can have special meaning in legal documents -and that is why such documents usually have their own little dictionary of word meanings - pertaining only to the document at hand.

So, would you pay someone $100 an hour to change a spark-plug for you?

Just like any other profession - some attorneys are very good at their jobs - and some are incompetent - and others, idiots. Having a Juris Doctorate does not insure very much. I'm not attacking lawyers - this is a general statement about any profession.

Regardless - an average person with an IQ over 75 can check the basics without paying for it. Such as - finding out land-use regs, statutes, public land and highway laws, etc. for the area of concern. Next step is finding out about the property in question - e.g. checking the deed and deed-chain, checking for recorded easements on other deeds, checking for any claims of implied uses, etc. Most of these are in the public record and anybody can search through them for free. If you hire a lawyer to search land and court records - in most cases - the lawyer will sub the work out to a non-lawyer to actually do the research. I've done it for many attorneys. If someone takes the time to check the easiest and most obvious stuff and is then concerned and unsure - then is a good time to get a lawyer that specializes in that field.

Also keep in mind, that since the Internet was invented - anybody can easily check current case-law for the area in question.

Anyway - I did't say it's wrong to hire an attorney - nor is it wrong to pay someone to change a spark-plug for you - if you don't want to - or just can't figure it out. I am stating that in many cases it is NOT the first thing needed to do.

Sounds like an easement issue. I"m not a lawyer and haven"t lived in Missouri for 47 years, come from the bootheel area.

Maybe you need a lawyer but I"d first recommend you check your state statutes (laws) on easements. If your email is open I"ve got some stuff from Black"s Law Dictionary that will give you a pretty good overview of easements.

Bob
Central Arizona

If you put up some gates that they have to stop and open and close each trip that will slow them down. As for damages on the drive way, can't help you there. Good luck!!
Dave