West Allis Boundary Dispute Lawyers and West Allis Title Attorneys

Find the right Title & Boundary Dispute attorney in West Allis, WI

Title & Boundary Dispute Law in Wisconsin

Occasionally, 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 situation 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 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. Also, 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.

Usually, 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 West Allis, 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 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 West Allis, 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 generally considered 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 a very large burden on one neighbor, and re-drawing them to reflect their actual use would put a comparatively small burden on the other neighbor

A court, for several possible reasons, might decide to give effect to the legally-recorded property lines, which would necessarily change the neighbors' situation, with respect to how they use their land. For example, if the neighbor who is benefiting from the current 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. Accordingly, 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 basically consented to the current arrangement when they took no action to correct it.

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

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 West Allis, Wisconsin Attorney Do?

Real property disputes often 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 West Allis, Wisconsin real estate attorney, who will help you navigate these murky legal waters.

Talk to a Real Estate Law Attorney now!

Life in West Allis

West Allis, Wisconsin is a charming city located in the greater Milwaukee area. West Allis has a sizeable population of just under 65,000 residents and is a very popular place to visit in Wisconsin. The city is located on 11.4 square miles.

West Allis is home to the Wisconsin State Fair, and the fairgrounds are a popular place for concerts and other activities in addition to the fair. West Allis has a lot of activities for residents to enjoy including parks, trails, and movie theaters. The Root and Kinnickinnic Rivers flow through parts of West Allis, which makes for some lush landscape and beauty for residents and visitors to enjoy.

West Allis is also home to some fabulous lawyers. Lawyers practicing in West Allis are trained to help their local client in any legal matter he or she is facing. Many West Allis lawyers grew up in the city and decided to practice there and their appreciation for their community is evident. In addition to great lawyers, West Allis has a wonderful professional community which makes this city a great place to work in. Whether visiting or living, West Allis has it all!

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