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Title & Boundary Dispute Law in Maryland

If you discover that you and your neighbor's use of your respective properties do not reflect the legal property lines, this can create a problem.

It's normally possible, though not always easy, for neighbors to come to a resolution of these disputes on their own. If the neighbors happen to like one another, and the difference between the actual property lines and what they believed the property lines to be is extremely small (a foot or two, for example), they might simply decide to go on as they had before. This is certainly a desirable solution in the short term, since it saves everyone a great deal of time and energy. However, in the long term, this can cause problems, particularly if one neighbor decides they want to enforce the legal property lines down the road.

Normally, when this happens, the owner of the property which is being encroached upon wants to expand their property to reflect the legal boundaries, and the owner of the land that will be shrunk by recognizing the legal property lines will want to keep the situation as it is.

While the boundary disputes discussed above occur fairly regularly, they aren't the only type of land dispute that can happen in Gaithersburg, Maryland. There are also title disputes. These disagreements arise when it isn't clear who owns an entire parcel of land. There are many reasons why such confusion might arise, but a common one is failure to properly record a deed, or subsequent loss of a deed by the recording office. While normally innocent in origin, these disputes can also be the product of fraud. Sometimes, a landowner will sell his land to more than one person, with each buyer assuming that they are the only buyer. Having "sold" his land multiple times, the fraudster presumably flees the jurisdiction with his ill-gotten gains. This leaves the buyers to figure out who really owns the land that each of them thought they had just bought. Obviously, whoever loses this dispute will normally have to absorb the loss of the land's purchase price, if the fraudulent seller cannot be found.

Possible Outcomes of Boundary and Title Disputes in Gaithersburg, Maryland

One frequent resolution for boundary disputes is a court re-drawing the boundaries to fit with what the assumptions that the neighbors were operating under before the error was discovered. This normally happens when both parties were, for many years, aware of the actual property boundaries, and did nothing about it. Additionally, if the neighbor who has been encroaching onto the other neighbor's land has made costly improvements thereto, this weighs in favor of that neighbor, since changing the property lines would impose significant hardship on that neighbor.

Of course, there are plenty of reasons why a court might decide to enforce the property lines as the records indicate. If one neighbor knew about the discrepancy, and hid it from the other neighbor (presumably because the neighbor with the knowledge of the discrepancy benefited from it), a court will, of course, not reward this kind of dishonesty, and will decide against that neighbor. On the other hand, if the neighbor whose land would be expanded by enforcing the "real" property boundaries knew this fact, and took no action for many years, a court will probably not be receptive if he or she suddenly tries to enforce them. This is referred to as "sitting on one's rights," and courts will not reward this, either. If you have a legal right, you're expected to make efforts to vindicate it as soon as possible. If you don't, a court will basically say "I guess it wasn't that important to you if you waited 10 years to bring this to our attention. Next case."

With title disputes (as opposed to the boundary disputes discussed above), a Gaithersburg, Maryland court has to determine who owns an entire parcel of land. There are some pretty perplexing legal issues involved here.

Suffice to say, you'll want the help of an expert on this subject. In general, however, you should know that courts almost always rule in favor of the buyer who first recorded the deed, AND (not "or") didn't have knowledge of any prior conveyances. This protects the buyer who was most diligent in vindicating his own rights, and acted in good faith (obviously, a buyer who knew about a prior sale of the same land isn't acting honestly).

What Can A Gaithersburg, Maryland Attorney Do?

Because of the high stakes, going it alone in a boundary or title dispute is rarely prudent. Therefore, it's almost always a good idea to get a good Gaithersburg, Maryland real estate attorney to help you with such legal problems.

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Life in Gaithersburg

Gaithersburg, Maryland is a city in Montgomery County. Its population is around 60,000 people. Gaithersburg, Maryland was founded in 1765, as a small agricultural community. By the late 1800s, BO Railroad had built a station in Gaithersburg, which accelerated its growth. The station was designed by an Ephraim Francis Baldwin, a famous architect known for designing ornate, Victorian-style train stations. In 1899, Gaithersburg was selected as one of six sites for the construction of the International Latitude Observatory, which was an international effort of scientists to precisely measure Earth's "wobble" on its axis of rotation. Six observatories were built in different parts of the world, on the exact same line of latitude. They would then all focus on the same groups of stars, and each one would measure the stars' apparent movement very precisely, using this data they could obtain very precise data about the movement of Earth's axis. The Observatory in Gaithersburg is an important site in the history of science. It has been designated a National Historic Landmark, and is a popular destination for science enthusiasts to visit. Modernly, Gaithersburg is very diverse, both economically, and demographically. For this reason, there are many competent lawyers of various specialties in Gaithersburg. This means that, if you are facing any type of legal issue, there is a Gaithersburg, Maryland lawyer who can help you with it.

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Gaithersburg Boundary Dispute Lawyers and Gaithersburg Title Attorneys

Title & Boundary Dispute Law in Maryland

Possible Outcomes of Boundary and Title Disputes in Gaithersburg, Maryland