Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Maryland
We have a farm which we have owned for almost 50 years. There is a landlocked 3/4 parcel of land along one of our boundries. It has been abandoned since before we bought the farm. The last deed transfer occured in 1940 to a elderly women, unmarried with no children. We can find no record of her accept that an elderly neighbor said she remembers the women who she described as a "hermit". She said the women would be well over 100 years old by now and she last remember seeing the women back in the 1940's. The are no buildings on the parcel and no property tax account for the parcel. Although we have maintained the property for almost 50 years, how can we legally absorb the parcel into ours?
2 Answers from Attorneys
It may take more than simply maintaining the property for the last 50 years. The best way to go about obtaining legal title to the 3/4 acres of property is to hire a Maryland real estate litigator who has experience in actions to "quiet title" to property. Basically, you will need to put the community on notice and go before a judge and you will need help doing this.
Best of luck.
In bringing an action to quiet title, you would be relying on the legal doctrine known as adverse possession. You would have to establish that you have essentially taken possession of the property openly and "notoriously" for at least 20 years, by using and maintaining it. You would file your legal action against the record owners of the property, which can be determined by accessing the land records for your county. But if it is a separate and distinct parcel, it would have a tax account, so it may be just a part of a larger parcel. I suggest you hire an experienced real estate attorney who is familiar with these kinds of cases. You may also need to have a title search done and a survey to support your action, but the attorney can arrange for those.
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