Shelton Boundary Dispute Lawyers and Shelton Title Attorneys

Find the right Title & Boundary Dispute attorney in Shelton, CT

Title & Boundary Dispute Law in Connecticut

Finding out that property lines are improperly drawn and learning that you have been partially occupying your neighbor's land, or vice versa, can create some fairly serious legal issues.

Sometimes, neighbors will decide amongst themselves that the issue isn't worth fighting over, and will go on as they did before. This is particularly likely if the neighbors are on good terms, and the difference between their use of the land, and the actual property lines, is small (say, a few feet or less). This is an ideal situation, at least in the short term. It can, however, cause problems in the future - preventing a neighbor from enforcing the actual property lines, if they suddenly have a reason to do so.

Consequently, neighbors more frequently end up in some type of legal dispute over whether and to what extent the property lines should be enforced. Obviously, when the property lines are changed, one neighbor wins, and the other loses. It should come as no surprise, then, that legal fights are often the result.

Title disputes in Shelton, Connecticut, on the other hand, involve questions of ownership over an entire parcel of land. This confusion can sometimes arise from improperly recorded deeds, resulting in inadvertent (and, occasionally, deliberate) sales of the same parcel of land to multiple people. Obviously, each buyer wants to be the one who takes title, especially if it seems unlikely that they'll be able to get their money back. This can lead to some very heated disputes.

Possible Outcomes of Boundary and Title Disputes in Shelton, Connecticut

There are many ways to resolve boundary disputes. One way is to change the legal property lines to reflect the use that the neighbors had been making of the land before the discrepancy was discovered. This is usually considered a sort of "neutral" result - nobody's situation changes. If both neighbors knew about the real boundaries for a very long time, and did nothing about it, a court may view this as them having acquiesced to the status quo, and decide that it would be unfair to force the neighbors to change their use of the land after such a long period of time. This might also be done if enforcing the property lines would place a very large burden on one neighbor, and re-drawing them to reflect their actual use would put a comparatively small burden on the other neighbor

On the other hand, a court could decide to take the opposite approach, and order the neighbors to abide by the legal property lines. When deciding which course of action to take, courts consider many factors, but most of them boil down to common-sense principles of fairness. For example, if the owner of the land who was encroaching onto his neighbor's land knew of the encroachment, and hid this fact from the other neighbor (hoping to continue to use more land than he paid for), that will weigh heavily in favor of enforcing the legal property lines. On the other hand, if neither neighbor knew about the error, and it turns out that the actual property line goes through somebody's living room, a court probably won't enforce them.

In Shelton, Connecticut courts have many options when it comes to resolving title disputes. However, these disputes are usually governed by some fairly confusing (and old) legal principles. While they're usually built around policies that most people would find to be quite fair and reasonable, their application can be nearly impenetrable, even for some lawyers.

Without going into too much detail, the person who recorded their deed first will be the one who takes ownership, provided he or she did not know (or had no reason to know) of the existence of the other deed.

What Can A Shelton, Connecticut Attorney Do?

The legal issues surrounding title and boundary disputes can get pretty intricate, and there are typically very high stakes involved (most people think their land is pretty important). For that reason, a good Shelton, Connecticut real estate attorney will prove invaluable if such a dispute arises.

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Life in Shelton

Beautiful Shelton, Connecticut is home to close to 39,000 residents and located in Fairfield County. Shelton was first settled in 1639 and has been growing ever since. Shelton encompasses 39 square miles and is one of the few cities in connecticut with its own sheriff department.

Tragedy struck the city in 1975 when it was the victim of the largest arson fire in American history. The city has recovered from the fire, but the city once known for being a major rubber manufacturer never had the industry revived to the same level. The city is currently undergoing a major downtown revitalization -- an effort that will unite the community.

In addition to two golf courses, Shelton also has many outdoor activities for its residents to enjoy. Shelton also has a great legal community with lawyers trained to serve their local clients in issues ranging from divorce to drafting a deed. Shelton lawyers are an important part of the growing community and trained at some of the top law schools in the country. Whether living, working, or just visiting Shelton, a good lawyer is never far away.

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