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Title & Boundary Dispute Law in New Jersey

Sometimes, 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.

Ideally, the neighbors could just ignore the situation, and go on as they had before, effectively agreeing to change the property lines to reflect their past use. This doesn't always happen, however. Additionally, such a course of action is not free of issues, and could eventually result in ownership of the land legally changing to reflect the past use, even if one of the neighbors opposes this.

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.

In addition to the boundary disputes mentioned above, land owners and buyers in Old Bridge, New Jersey should also be aware of the possibility of a title dispute. Rather than being a disagreement over the exact boundaries between two pieces of land, a title dispute is a conflict over who actually owns an entire plot of land. Uncertainty over ownership of land can come up more often than you might think, and is most often caused by a buyer's failure to correctly record a deed, or the accidental loss or destruction of a deed. Sometimes, however, these disputes can be more dishonest in origin: on occasion, unscrupulous sellers of land will attempt to sell the same parcel to more than one person. Obviously, once you've sold land to one person, you can't sell the same land to someone else, as you no longer own it. These tricksters know this, but are attempting to gain a large amount of money through the multiple sales. Once this is done, they typically attempt to flee the state or country before the buyers discovery they've been duped. This leaves it up to the buyers to figure out amongst themselves who owns the land.

Possible Outcomes of Boundary and Title Disputes in Old Bridge, New Jersey

One possible outcome of a boundary dispute is a court effectively re-drawing the boundaries to fit what the neighbors had perceived. This is most frequently 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 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.

When a title dispute comes up in Old Bridge, New Jersey, the court has to apply some pretty perplexing legal and equitable principles. These rules are sometimes fairly 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 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 Old Bridge, New Jersey 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 Old Bridge, New Jersey real estate attorney will prove invaluable if such a dispute arises.

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Life in Old Bridge

Old Bridge, New Jersey is a township in Middlesex County. As of a 2007 estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau, its population is about 66,000.

Old Bridge can trace its origins to when the English wrested control of the area from the Dutch in 1664. In the 1680s, the current boundaries of Middlesex County were laid out by the legislative body with jurisdiction at the time. The area went through several name changes over the centuries, and finally appears to have settled on the official name of Township of Old Bridge, in 1975.

Until the 1950s, Old Bridge was largely an agricultural community, and population and economic growth were slow. However, during the post-WWII economic boom, there was a burst of construction activity, and most of the farm land gave way to residential developments.

Modernly, Old Bridge, New Jersey is home to a population that is relatively well-off, economically speaking. Only about 4% of the population of Old Bridge lives below the poverty line, which is much lower than the national average.

If you live in Old Bridge, New Jersey, chances are good that you'll be able to find a lawyer if you need one. Old Bridge, New Jersey lawyers are very diverse and competent. An Old Bridge, New Jersey attorney can probably handle just about any legal issue you might have.

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Old Bridge Boundary Dispute Lawyers and Old Bridge Title Attorneys

Title & Boundary Dispute Law in New Jersey

Possible Outcomes of Boundary and Title Disputes in Old Bridge, New Jersey