Sarasota Boundary Dispute Lawyers and Sarasota Title Attorneys

Find the right Title & Boundary Dispute attorney in Sarasota, FL

Title & Boundary Dispute Law in Florida

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.

It's typically 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 quite 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.

In these cases, what often happens is that the owner of the property which is truly larger than he initially believed (due to the property line not being where he thought it was) wants to make use of the additional property, and eject his neighbor from it. The other neighbor, on the other hand, will want to keep using the land as before, to avoid having his property shrink.

People in Sarasota, Florida should also be aware of the possibility of title (ownership) disputes. Unlike the boundary disputes discussed above, the outcome of a title dispute can determine who owns an entire parcel of real property. Confusion over who actually owns a piece of property is more common that some people might imagine. Many local property records are still kept on paper, are not very well-organized, and sometimes date back a hundred years or more. A lost or misfiled deed is the most common way for a title dispute to arise. However, sometimes fraud on the part of a seller can lead to title disputes. Unscrupulous individuals will sometimes try to sell the same piece of land to more than one person. And some people even try to sell property they don't own, occasionally succeeding (and this isn't just limited to bridges in London). Typically, once the buyers discover they've been duped, the "seller" is nowhere to be found, leaving them to figure out who owns the land they all thought they had purchased.

Possible Outcomes of Boundary and Title Disputes in Sarasota, Florida

One way to resolve boundary disputes is to simply re-draw the property lines to reflect what the neighbors thought they were all along. When this happens, nobody's situation changes, and it's usually considered a neutral result (causing no significant loss or gain to either party). This is often done if both of the neighbors knew about the actual property lines for many years, and didn't do anything about it. A court might also take this course of action if enforcing the property lines would impose a substantial hardship on one of the parties, not outweighed by the overall benefits of doing so.

However, a court might also enforce the legal property boundaries, especially if failing to do so would place a significant burden on the owner of the encroached-upon land. If the owner of the encroaching land knew of the encroachment, and concealed it from his neighbor, this fact would also weigh heavily in favor of enforcing the legal property lines.

In the case of disputes over title, courts have to figure out who owns a particular piece of real property. Courts will consider many factors, and there are some complicated and (in some cases) antiquated legal issues that guide Sarasota, Florida courts on these matters.

Without delving into the details too much, courts typically resolve title disputes by looking at who recorded the deed first, and whether or not that person had notice of any prior sales of the same land. To succeed in a dispute like this, a buyer will usually need to prove that they were the first to record their deed, and that they had no notice (or reason to know) of any prior conveyances of the same land.

What Can A Sarasota, Florida Attorney Do?

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

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Life in Sarasota

Sarasota, Florida is the county seat of Sarasota County, located on the central Gulf Coast. It has a population of about 53,000 people.

Humans first settled Florida, including the Sarasota area, about 15,000 years ago - not very long after their initial arrival on North America. At that time, sea levels were much lower, and Sarasota would have been about 100 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico, rather than right on the coast. Europeans first settled the area in the 1600s.

Modernly, Sarasota has been hit hard by the crash of the U.S. housing market. However, it is still regularly visited by tourists, and tourism remains a major sector of its economy. Sarasota is also home to many sites of historic interest, from prehistoric archeological sites, to Civil War forts.

The architectural style prevalent in Sarasota was once so popular that it is now an established architectural style, known as the "Sarasota School" or "Sarasota Modern."

If you live in Sarasota, Florida, and are looking for an attorney, you're in luck. There are many lawyers in Sarasota, Florida who practice many different areas of law. If you need legal advice, a Sarasota, Florida lawyer is the person you should call.

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