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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 often, and might have consequences down the road, including title eventually changing to reflect the perceived property lines, without the choice of either neighbor.

Therefore, neighbors more often 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.

While the boundary disputes discussed above occur fairly regularly, they aren't the only type of land dispute that can happen in Lumberton, North Carolina. 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 usually 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 actually owns the land that each of them thought they had just bought. Obviously, whoever loses this dispute will usually 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 Lumberton, North Carolina

One possible result of a boundary dispute is a court effectively re-drawing the boundaries to fit what the neighbors had perceived. This is most often done if the neighbors were aware for a long time of the "real" property lines, and didn't do anything about it. It also helps if the neighbor who is encroaching makes major improvements to the land, and enforcing the new property lines would place a major burden on him.

On the other hand, a court could determine 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 majority of them boil down to common-sense principles of fairness. For instance, 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 likely won't enforce them.

When a title dispute comes up in Lumberton, 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.

Generally, the person who records the deed first will be the one who takes ownership. Of course, this will only be if they had no reason to know about the other deeds).

What Can A Lumberton, North Carolina Attorney Do?

Real property disputes frequently involve very old legal principles that can even confound lawyers who aren't experts in real estate law. For that reason, you should almost always hire an expert Lumberton, North Carolina real estate attorney, who will assist you navigate these murky legal waters.

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Life in Lumberton

Lumberton is a city located in Robeson County, North Carolina. It currently has a population of approximately 20,000 people.

The city is located on the Lumber River, and was founded in 1787 by an Army officer, a few years after the end of the American Revolutionary War.

Originally, the Lumber River was used as a major route to transport lumber. Before the advent of mechanized transportation, it was common for lumber to be transported long distances by floating it down large rivers, and such transport was a major source of jobs and development for the areas where this transport occurred.

Most of the growth that turned Lumberton into the city it is today, however, occurred during and after WWII, where it was a major shipping center.

Modernly, the Lumber River is a major recreational attraction, allowing for swimming, rafting, and fishing. It is considered one of the most highly-prized recreational sites in the state, thanks to its natural beauty, and the fact that it features large areas of almost completely unspoiled coastal plains habitat.

There are plenty of Lumberton, North Carolina lawyers who can handle whatever legal issue you might be facing.

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Lumberton Boundary Dispute Lawyers and Lumberton Title Attorneys

Title & Boundary Dispute Law in North Carolina

Possible Outcomes of Boundary and Title Disputes in Lumberton, North Carolina