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Title & Boundary Dispute Law in North Carolina

Occasionally, neighbors will find out that their use of their land (or what they thought was their land) is not reflected in the actual property lines on record. Obviously, this can create a problem.

In a seemingly-ideal situation, the neighbors will choose to ignore this new revelation, and go on as they always have. Of course, this doesn't happen commonly, and might have consequences down the road, including title eventually changing to reflect the perceived property lines, without the choice of either neighbor.

Thus, neighbors more commonly 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.

In High Point, North Carolina, property can also be the subject of title disputes, rather than boundary disputes described above. These types of disagreements stem from disagreements over who owns a piece of property. Confusion in this area is more frequent than one might think. If a deed is improperly recorded, land can be "owned" by 2 people simultaneously. Even more troublesome is when land is "sold" to more than one person. This is normally inadvertent, but some people do it deliberately, hoping to abscond the profits acquired by selling the same thing twice. In cases like this, a court has to determine which buyer owns the land. This is a big deal, considering how unlikely it is that a defrauded buyer could get his or her money back.

Possible Outcomes of Boundary and Title Disputes in High Point, North Carolina

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 case changes, and it's typically 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 considerable hardship on one of the parties, not outweighed by the overall benefits of doing so.

A court, for many possible reasons, might decide to give effect to the legally-recorded property lines, which would generally change the neighbors' situation, with respect to how they use their land. For instance, if the neighbor who is benefiting from the prevailing situation (he is using land beyond the actual boundary of his property, thereby encroaching onto the land of another) knew about the discrepancy and took steps to actively hide this fact from the other neighbor, the court is very unlikely to do anything that rewards this behavior, even in the slightest. Therefore, a court is likely to decide against the dishonest neighbor. Conversely, if the neighbor who would benefit from enforcing the property lines did nothing to make this happen for many years, a court will probably tell them that they had their chance, and essentially consented to the current arrangement when they took no action to correct it.

When a title dispute comes up in High Point, North Carolina, the court has to apply some pretty perplexing legal and equitable principles. These rules are sometimes very obscure, mainly because they can trace their origins back hundreds of years, to the common-law courts of England. However, a close examination of them reveals their basic goal: deciding ownership disputes based on longstanding conceptions of basic fairness.

Without going into too much detail, the individual who recorded their deed initially 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 High Point, North Carolina Attorney Do?

The legal issues surrounding title and boundary disagreements can get pretty difficult, and there are normally very high stakes involved (most people think their land is pretty important). For that reason, a good High Point, North Carolina real estate attorney will prove invaluable if such a dispute arises.

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Life in High Point

The City of High Point extends into Guilford, Davidson, Randolph, and Forsyth Counties and plays host to 102,000 North Carolina residents making it the eighth largest municipality in the state. You probably know High Point as the "Furniture and Hosiery Capital of the World" due to it's many manufacturing plants that churn out textiles, busses and of course furniture. The population nearly doubles each time the High Point Market opens with over 100,000 vendors and buyers from around the world flocking to the largest furnishings trade show in the world covering 11.5 million square feet.

High Point also plays host to a number of other interesting sites that attract visitors and citizens alike. The Angela Peterson Doll and Miniature Museum is one of the south's largest doll and miniature museums. The Bernice Bienenstock Furniture Library retains the world's largest collection of books on the furniture and interior design, a Mecca for industry professionals. There are a number of lawyers in the town too. High Point lawyers are well versed in a variety of cases both local and statewide. The city is not all business, it also has a number of outstanding parks and recreational areas like High Point City Lake Park which is a recreation and amusement park offering boating, picnic areas, fishing, miniature gold, a water park, and the largest outdoor swimming pool in North Carolina.

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High Point Boundary Dispute Lawyers and High Point Title Attorneys

Title & Boundary Dispute Law in North Carolina

Possible Outcomes of Boundary and Title Disputes in High Point, North Carolina