Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Alabama

Re: land line boundaries

Do you have a survey of the property? The existence of a fence by itself doesn't really control anything especially if there is a survey in existence that records the boundaries. On the other hand, the old concept of "adverse possession" holds that a person can take title to real estate if they claim to own it, have claimed to own it for a long period of time, have made the real owner aware of their claim and have defended that claim in some manner. This would be a fact situation and a local lawyer would be best equipped to help you get a just result.

Bill Nolan

www.NolanElderLaw.com

Re: land line boundaries

if you have maintained sufficient "possession" up to the fence line, then 10 years is what is required. Case excerpts below:

Sexton v. Wagnon,

--- So.2d ----, 2006 WL 3333793, Ala.Civ.App., November 17, 2006 (2050638.)

...the trial judge entered a final judgment in which he found that Wagnon had acquired title to the gore by adverse possession and, therefore, that the possession line is the true boundary line between the parties' properties.

�The coterminous owners in a boundary dispute �may alter the boundary line between their tracts of land by adverse possession for ten years." (quoting Kerlin v. Tensaw Land & Timber Co., 390 So.2d 616, 618 (Ala.1980) End of case excerpt.

Also,

When one owner of coterminous properties constructs a fence to represent the dividing line between his and another's property, occupies up to that fence, and claims ownership up to the fence with knowledge of the other landowner, that claim is presumptively hostile and the possession adverse. � Our Supreme Court has consistently held that �where a case involves a boundary dispute between coterminous landowners, title may be acquired by an adverse possession period of only 10 years.� E.g., Moss v. Woodrow Reynolds & Son Timber Co., 592 So.2d 1029, 1030 (Ala.1992). Kendrick v. Kendrick, --- So.2d ----, 2006 WL 2640628, Ala.Civ.App., September 15, 2006 (2050156.)

Hope this helps, kindest regards, Chip