Superior Boundary Dispute Lawyers and Superior Title Attorneys

Find the right Title & Boundary Dispute attorney in Superior, WI

Title & Boundary Dispute Law in Wisconsin

Sometimes, neighbors will discover that the way they've been using their land doesn't conform with the property lines that the local government has on record. When they find out, the case has to be resolved somehow. In such cases, there is usually a winner and a loser, so conflict is likely to arise.

Ideally, the neighbors could just dismiss 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. Furthermore, 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.

Normally, when this happens, the owner of the property which is being encroached upon wants to expand their property to reflect the legal boundaries, and the owner of the land that will be shrunk by recognizing the legal property lines will want to keep the situation as it is.

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

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 typically regarded 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 an extremely large burden on one neighbor, and re-drawing them to reflect their actual use would put a comparatively small burden on the other neighbor

Nonetheless, a court might also enforce the legal property boundaries, particularly 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 further weigh heavily in favor of enforcing the legal property lines.

With title disputes (as opposed to the boundary disputes discussed above), a Superior, Wisconsin court has to determine who owns an entire parcel of land. There are some pretty complex legal issues involved here.

Suffice to say, you'll want the assistance of an expert on this subject. In general, however, you should know that courts almost always rule in favor of the buyer who first recorded the deed, AND (not "or") didn't have knowledge of any previous conveyances. This protects the buyer who was most diligent in vindicating his own rights, and acted in good faith (obviously, a buyer who knew about a previous sale of the same land isn't acting honestly).

What Can A Superior, Wisconsin Attorney Do?

Real property disputes usually 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 Superior, Wisconsin real estate attorney, who will assist you navigate these murky legal waters.

Talk to a Real Estate Law Attorney now!

Life in Superior

Superior is the county seat for Douglas County, Washington. It has a population of about 27,000 and was founded as early as 1854. The city is known for its location at the west end of Lake Superior. It is also bordered by St. Louis Bay, Superior Bay, and two rivers.

As you can probably tell, water activities dominate the economy and culture of the city of Superior. One of the most popular tourist destinations is Barker's Island, which is the focal point of the city's recreation activities. The area includes a marina, a boat landing, swimming areas, and beaches. For many decades Superior has been the destination for boating and sailing vessels across the nation.

Superior also is known for its monuments and museums. The city has done well to preserve historic sea vessels such as the S.S. Meteor, built back in 1896. Further learning about American history can be had at the Fairlawn Museum.

Lawyers in Superior generally file legal claims at the Douglas County Circuit Court. In the city of Superior, some lawyers also participate in the local festivities, such as the annual Dragon Boat Festival.

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