Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Louisiana

I bought a piece of property on a street where the fence line has been up for around 40 years. It's in a rural area and there are about 9 houses where this fence has established the back yards of these homes. I have several acres at the end of the street. The property that makes up this fence line is a 40 acre cow pasture. The owner over these years has never told any one anything about the property line. After all this time the owner had a servey done and the property line actually comes up to the back door of these houses and I'm losing about 1/3 of my property. This man is now going down our street and trying to charge people for the land which has been established for 40 years. Some home owners have buiding on this land that they thought were their backyards. I'm under the understanding that based on the law Acquisitve prescrition we are protected from such an action by this man. Please advise, Thank you.


Asked on 2/21/11, 9:04 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Nick Pizzolatto, Jr. Pizzolatto Law Office

Acquisitive Prescription probably does apply, but you must file to establish ownership of the piece of property that is in dispute. You cannot simply say that the fence has been the boundary for over 30 consecutive years and therefore the property is yours. You must file a Petition to declare that property yours......and so do the rest of the landowners involved.

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Answered on 2/21/11, 3:47 pm


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