Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

The only way to remove your neighbor's water rights to your well are if he voluntarily deeds them back to you, or whomever owns the property fails to use them for so long that you qualify for an abandonment. Your best option is to get the neighbor to quitclaim the rights before he sells. The new owners will buy the rights automatically with the sale.

Your neighbor probably doesn't have a "deed" to your well. More likely, the neighbor has an easement on your land for "his" well. I am currently involved in litigation over what may be a nearly identical problem. (Our well is on the neighbor's property, on an easement).

One doesn't have to relinquish a water well easement just because he has now drilled a successful well on his own property, with the possible exception of the very unusual circumstance where the easement was created by court action because it then appeared that no other source of water was possible (and even then, I think the circumstance is unlikely).

Generally, I'd say you are stuck with the neighbor having on-going rights to the water so long as he wants. You can, of course, always buy him out or see what you can negotiate in the way of a reduction or release of his rights.

Again, I doubt that the neighbor has a deed to your well -- it's probably an easement. An easement is a lesser right that is conveyed by a deed, but nevertheless cannot be removed by wishful thinking.

I am surprised at Mr. Whipple's answer, since he is generally a pretty knowledgeable real estate attorney. Unless the easement was created by a court order, as he mentions, it was created by a deed. So he would, in fact have a deed of an easement. Other than that, he is just repeating what I said, so of course I agree. ;)