I'm Stealing YOUR Land

I am STEALING YOUR land!

In an article titled “10 Things Your Neighbor Won’t Tell You” Quentin Fottrell lists this as #7…“I’m secretly stealing your land.” Some readers may not know what “adverse possession,” is.  Adverse Possession is a process available by State Statute that allows the "possessor" of the land to gain title to another's real property without compensation.  Certain requirements must be met though, the possession must be open, notorious, hostile, and continuous for a prescribed length of time.  In Wisconsin we have three basic categories of this.  And this article is NOT meant nor intended to be legal advice. 

• The first is Adverse Possession without "color" of Title, meaning that there is no claim to the property on the possessor's title.  Under the law this property must be held for 20 years.
• Second, is Adverse Possession with "color" of Title.  This means that for some reason there might be ambiguity in the title record that possibly both parties may have claim to the property (an overlap in the legal description).  This provision requires only a 10 year possession.
• The third is similar to the second, except that the possessor is the person paying the taxes on the parcel.  This provision allows the claim after only 7 years.

Some people claim that this doctrine is not fair, that it is a legalized form of theft.  I do see that point, it can be.  Unfortunately or Fortunately (depending on which side of this law one is coming from) the law looks at this doctrine as a method of correcting errors in land sales.  It attempts to be as fair as possible, allowing the person who has title to, and pays taxes on the property a full 13 year advantage over someone who has neither, and a 3 year advantage over the person who has title, but doesn't pay the taxes.  But the law also looks at the process as if someone doesn't "defend" their property and allows another to continuously occupy their property in a method that is open, notorious, and hostile for a prescribed period of time, that possibly they don't even believe that they own the property in question, or if they allow the process to go on, that they might not even care.


The real down side to this is that it more often that not is a very expensive process.  The sad thing is that an inexpensive (by comparison) land survey would resolve any question.  Knowing where your boundaries are can save many problems down the road, if you are in Wisconsin, give Bosshard Surveying a call at 920-293-4001, we can help you!  We will show you exactly where your boundaries are, for much less than it could cost you!  Don’t let someone else rob you of your valuable property.

The Pincushion Effect

Every so often we will find a property corner that is monumented multiple times.  This is often referred to as a “pincushion” corner.  Property law and the law of boundaries demand that an existing monument that was originally set in order to represent a property corner be honored by all following land surveyors. By this definition, a land surveyor is either an original surveyor who is establishing new boundary lines and setting corners for the very first time, or the land surveyor is doing a retracement survey whose only duty is to “follow in the footsteps” of those who went before. 

Regardless, some surveyors routinely ignore this core principle and the pincushion corner is a direct result. Here are 2 monuments supposedly marking the same property corner.  Only a licensed surveyor would be able to determine which is correct through a careful examination of written documents, and a thorough search for additional monumentation.  A property owner needs to use great care if they are determined to “find” their own monuments without having a surveyor verify they are indeed correct.  If the wrong monument is used to let’s say build a fence, the fence could wind up being over the property line.

The first instance it may not SEEM like that big of a deal as to which monument is held as the property corner, they are only off by a few tenths of a foot.  Here is another example that is even more confusing.  Not only can a situation like this lead to structures being built in the wrong location, but can also lead to additional monuments being set in the wrong location.  It is important to have a licensed surveyor verify, or locate your boundary lines and property corners.  Hiring a surveyor is nowhere near as expensive as you might think, and it is definitely less expensive than a court battle would be.

We can help you find where your corners and lot lines are, give Bosshard Surveying a call at 920-293-4001.