Adverse possession can be completed by.... ...building a fence over the property line and after a certain number of years going to court and claiming the property on your side of the illegaly built fence is yours. If the real owner never contacted you to make you take down or move the fence back onto your property, the courts would probably give you the slice of property and your property boundary would be moved to the fence line. ...storing equipment on someone else's property and basically using it for a certain number of years during which time the owner never made you move the stuff off the property (by letter, by attorney, by lawsuit, by whatever means). After using the property for a certain number of years, going to court and asking the judge to give you the property. Yes, these happen all the time! Usually neighbors take fence disputes to court. Unfortunately, for cemeteries, especially if "abandoned" (not legally owned by anyone), anyone can use the property and then go to court and take ownership through adverse possession. There is a good side, though, for us in Washington state. We have built into the law that cemeteries may NOT be taken through adverse possession. It's a very small one or two line paragraph that is not worded in a way that a layman would understand the meaning. It took a court case over this very thing, for me to find out about the law from an attorney. -------------- Andrea D. MacDonald "Andi" andimac@oz.net Washington State Cemetery Association http://www.rootsweb.com/~wapsgs/ "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lois Mauk" <loismauk@home.com> To: <INPCRP-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2002 7:33 AM Subject: [INPCRP] "Adverse possession" > Do any of you have any knowledge or experience concerning "adverse > possession" with respect to cemeteries? > > Scenario: A cemetery is mentioned in vague terms on an old deed (no metes > and bounds cited, just a reference to its size, etc.). The stones all > vanished decades ago. Now the property is "ripe for development" and the > cemetery location cannot or has not been precised determined. The > developer/property owner now claims ownership via "adverse possession". > > Your thoughts or experience? > > Lois > > > > > ==== INPCRP Mailing List ==== > To UNSUBSCRIBE, send message consisting only of > "UNSUBSCRIBE" to INPCRP-L-REQUEST@rootsweb.com > or to INPCRP-D-REQUEST@rootsweb.com (for DIGEST version) > > >