My question involves real estate located in the State of: Indiana
We have a dispute with our neighbors. We live on a lake and there is a seawall. The top of the seawall is much like a sidewalk. There is no walkway on the road. In the original plat from 1889 there is verbiage that states that all walks and streets shall remain public. The original plat shows the lot lines and measures for 14 properties that are on a point. Our oldest neighbor is 85 years old and says that the seawall has been used as a public sidewalk by all residents for his entire lifetime. None of the neighbors wants that to change. Along comes a new owner. They put up no trespassing signs on the seawall and have now put up a structure to block passage. We are one of the owners of the adjacent property and so share a boundary line. All deeds refer back to the original plat. Our shared boundary line is 116 feet. When we measure to the waters edge it is approximately 133 feet. The seawall walk is 3 feet wide. So as far as we are concerned the seawall is not on their property, not by a long shot. Now, they have come up with a survey that says that 17 additional feet beyond the plat is part of their property and that the property was always assumed to go to the waters edge. Of course we have not been provided with a copy of that so I can’t supply the exact verbiage their survey is using. It does not appear that their survey was actually filed with the county as when we went to the county seeking documentation on their land there was no survey only their property deed with the description matching the original plat. They did produce the survey for the town council when the neighbors all banded together to try to put a stop to this. We will try to get a copy from the town asap. My question is this? Which will take precedence the original plat measurements and deeds or this one survey. Note that the two adjacent properties have no such survey granting them these rights and it is quite clear from the original plat that the property lines that run along the lakeside are with some slight meandering due to the lake line, in a row. In other words no ones property line sticks out 15 feet farther than anyone elses, it is all one continuous line.
To make matters even worse the town attorney and marshall said that they would not prosecute or arrest anyone for trespass since there is such doubt about who actually owns this property. But they have gone to the county and the county said that they would arrest and prosecute. It’s unbelievable. The town attorney however has given us the impression that he thought the survey would take precedence. But everything I read online seems to point to the contrary since the survey is based off of the original plat. I am a single mom with 3 kids and limited means. I have lived here for 45 years and have never seen anyone do this. I am afraid they are just going to bury me in court costs until I can’t fight anymore. If a property has been used by the public for the same purpose for 80 years can someone really just come along and claim it? There is no sidewalk on the road and this is definitely the safest way for our children to travel around the lake.
And yes, we are all responsible for the care and maintenance of our seawalls much as people in town are for their sidewalks, but can’t deny access to the public, such as a public easement. But there is nothing anywhere that spells out that this property or any of our properties has an easement.
This week they called the police and filed a complaint because my barefoot 12 year old daughter stepped on their property.
We have a dispute with our neighbors. We live on a lake and there is a seawall. The top of the seawall is much like a sidewalk. There is no walkway on the road. In the original plat from 1889 there is verbiage that states that all walks and streets shall remain public. The original plat shows the lot lines and measures for 14 properties that are on a point. Our oldest neighbor is 85 years old and says that the seawall has been used as a public sidewalk by all residents for his entire lifetime. None of the neighbors wants that to change. Along comes a new owner. They put up no trespassing signs on the seawall and have now put up a structure to block passage. We are one of the owners of the adjacent property and so share a boundary line. All deeds refer back to the original plat. Our shared boundary line is 116 feet. When we measure to the waters edge it is approximately 133 feet. The seawall walk is 3 feet wide. So as far as we are concerned the seawall is not on their property, not by a long shot. Now, they have come up with a survey that says that 17 additional feet beyond the plat is part of their property and that the property was always assumed to go to the waters edge. Of course we have not been provided with a copy of that so I can’t supply the exact verbiage their survey is using. It does not appear that their survey was actually filed with the county as when we went to the county seeking documentation on their land there was no survey only their property deed with the description matching the original plat. They did produce the survey for the town council when the neighbors all banded together to try to put a stop to this. We will try to get a copy from the town asap. My question is this? Which will take precedence the original plat measurements and deeds or this one survey. Note that the two adjacent properties have no such survey granting them these rights and it is quite clear from the original plat that the property lines that run along the lakeside are with some slight meandering due to the lake line, in a row. In other words no ones property line sticks out 15 feet farther than anyone elses, it is all one continuous line.
To make matters even worse the town attorney and marshall said that they would not prosecute or arrest anyone for trespass since there is such doubt about who actually owns this property. But they have gone to the county and the county said that they would arrest and prosecute. It’s unbelievable. The town attorney however has given us the impression that he thought the survey would take precedence. But everything I read online seems to point to the contrary since the survey is based off of the original plat. I am a single mom with 3 kids and limited means. I have lived here for 45 years and have never seen anyone do this. I am afraid they are just going to bury me in court costs until I can’t fight anymore. If a property has been used by the public for the same purpose for 80 years can someone really just come along and claim it? There is no sidewalk on the road and this is definitely the safest way for our children to travel around the lake.
And yes, we are all responsible for the care and maintenance of our seawalls much as people in town are for their sidewalks, but can’t deny access to the public, such as a public easement. But there is nothing anywhere that spells out that this property or any of our properties has an easement.
This week they called the police and filed a complaint because my barefoot 12 year old daughter stepped on their property.
Trespass: Which Takes Precedence a Deed Based on the Original Plat or a Subsequent Survey
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