Re: Easement-default?

Steve M wrote:

> I have 50 acres [] that adjoins [two] 40 acre parcels [] were sold
> giving
> the buyer 80 acres joining [] at my NE corner.  As there has been a
> pasture road crossing my property []  the buyers have assumed,
> [] they have access thru my property without getting a right-of-way
> or easement from me.  Can I legally fence off my property even
> though it would block their access the 40 acres.  What would
> the recommendations to control my property?

Do you have some sort of problem with them that you don't want them to
have access to their property?

It only seems fair that if someone has a piece of property that they have
some means of egress even if it means using someone else's property to
get to it.

My guess is - and I'm not a lawyer - that if either going through your
property is the only way to get to theirs from the nearest road (or the
only road) or that there has commonly been a road going to their property
(such as the pasture road you mention), that they have a right to use
part of your property or that access road in order to reach their
property.  The reason that there usually is a pasture road is to force
traffic to use that one particular access method (as opposed to driving
through any part of the enclosing property to get to the enclave
property.)

Generally a party that owns the property surrounding or near another
property where the access to theirs is must grant to the other party
access to the land that other party owns.  You can't leave another party
landlocked such that either they can't get to their property or can't get
out of their property.  Now, there may be nuances if the property is such
that the general access to it was by plane or helicopter but I don't
think those apply in this case.  (For example, if you owned the land
around a mountain and their property was the top of the mountain,
conceivably you might have to let people through to be able to climb up
to the mountain but if was not possible to get there by auto you probably
don't have to allow an auto path through; on the other hand, if someone
needs to bring stuff in so they can climb, conceivably they may be
entitled to use for that purpose.)

I would suspect there is an implied easement for that purpose that if the
other party litigated over it, the courts would turn into a real easement
and allow the other party access.

--
Paul Robinson  "Above all else... We shall go on..."
"...And continue!"
"If the lessons of history teach us anything it is
that nobody learns the lessons that history teaches us."