Prescriptive Easements

black-big.pngI had a conversation the other day with a surveyor who’s mother in Sacramento County, California has a neighbor who seeks to block her longstanding access to her roadway.

In a quick ‘napkin-top rundown‘ of her case, the surveyor explained that there is a non-contiguous, triangular portion of land which runs on what intuitively is perceived and

gray-large.pngI explained that the element “Open & Notorious” is actually “two sides of the same fence” in this recent post. There I indicated that “Open” is the way the putative adverse possessor demonstrates possession. “Notorious” is how the title holder, or the world as the title holder’s proxy, recognizes this demonstration.

Well, how far of

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Open & Notorious is an extremely difficult element to understand and prove (and yes, despite the required burden – disprove) in Adverse Possession and Prescriptive Easement cases.

In my humble opinion, much of this relates to an overall misunderstanding of the fact that this single element is actually two elements combined into one. I liken

black-big.pngAfter the initial House Judiciary Committee Hearing on 2011.01.13, Assistant Minority Floor Leader Rep. Matt Shea (R) of Spokane’s 4th Legislative District offered Proposed Substitute HB 1026 – now SHB 1026. Its stated effects were as follows:

Changes the standard of evidence for adverse possession claims to “clear, cogent, and convincing evidence.” Requires adverse