Range wars

[MontyJ]

I hope all goes well for you Red. Neighbors like that are a PITA.

I'll cook, but it'll have to be brisket. I'm too busy to stand over a grill all day.

 

[baymule]

Red we are all counting down the days. When you get in the courtroom, look behind you. We will all be there for you and your husband.

 

[Carol Dee]

@baymule said it perfectly , we will be there in spirit.

 

[Smart Red]

Well, the ruling is in! Of course all the legalese is still up and running for "perhaps" another couple of months. The neighbors' attorney was given the task of writing up the judgement for signing. How long that takes him is in question. The results, however, are not as good as they could be, better than I expected, and a disaster for the neighbors -- and they still have no clue what they lost.

We had expected the neighbors would get the South 15 feet of field. The first neighbors had used it so the 20 year 'sticky' applied. However, instead of the (actually 16.3 feet) land in question, the judge subtracted a four foot grassy line that was considered the boundary and gave it to us. The neighbors did win ownership of 12.3 feet in the field, 4 feet less than they thought they had which gave us 4 feet more than we had known we owned before the case was started. Semi-win for us.

It was the North half of the disputed property that surprised even me. Our attorney had expected the neighbors would get the whole shed despite it being on the line. The judge agreed that we proved ownership of the whole 16.3 feet North of the field. That means we can tear down our part of the shed anytime we wish. We can begin clearing out another 16.3 feet of land that runs along their yard to about 20 feet of their house.

I know they thought they were fighting for an additional 15 feet of our land. They are going to be shocked when they realize just how close their yard the new boundary runs. For people who called the sheriff when we were working on our undisputed land, I can't imagine their apoplexy when they realize they are losing land they still thought was theirs undisputed.

We shall soon see. DS moved my chicken coop to be trailer about 10 feet closer to what they thought was theirs. I am still about 10 feet from our boundary as I know it to be. Sheriff anyone?

 

[seedcorn]

Good deal. Happy for you.

 

[Smart Red]

Happy for us, too.

I wanted to go out to a fancy restaurant and celebrate -- we missed snack and lunch -- since it was nearly 4:00, but DH wasn't hungry and wanted to lay down, saying he doesn't "know what happened" but he felt strange.

 

[ninnymary]

Hope everything gets finalized soon with their attorney. Glad you are happy with the results.

Mary

 

[Smart Red]

I am.

In all honesty, if they had walked over and discussed the boundary line like adults, they would already have the 15 or so feet they wanted. Until I did the research, we thought that land was already theirs.

It was the way they besmirched Clayton's name and honor with their errors and insinuations. That, and the fact they originally thought they could take a lot more land simply because they imagined it was theirs for so many years. I fought back because I didn't have any idea exactly what they were asking for and couldn't let that go.

DS is tearing down our half of the shed next week. That will give him quite a bit of good barn wood for the furniture he builds. He thinks he'll make enough to pay for removing our half of the foundation.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm glad it worked out for you. Hopefully you can get this behind you and move on.

 

[Smart Red]

Right! There are more important things in life. Family is #1. I now can focus more on DH and the rest.