Easement With Greedy And Spiteful Neighbor

[CompleteLossOfEnjoyment]

Hi, I bought my house in May of 2005 in Massachusetts (my very 1st house). When I bought the house I knew of a right of way that is stated on the deed as running along the southwesterly side of my lot, but there are no dimensions listed anywhere, including my neighbor's deed or the deed that it was created from in 1950.
I own 15' from my house to the southwesterly side border of my lot and when I moved in there was a fence placed 7' from my house (placed by a previous owner). I always considered the right of way to be where there is pavement which is about 3' on my property and about the same on my neighbor's.
Well, I've since learned by personal experience (on many occassions) and what neighbors have told me that she is a very spiteful and malicous person. Previous owners and neighbors have moved because of this woman!
My problem is...she's claiming that the right of way is at least 10' solely on my property and claims that the right of way went all the way up to my house (whether she can prove that or not, I'm not sure).
My lot size is 3200 sq feet where hers is 15000 sq feet.
Of my 3200 sq feet 560 of it is on the other side of my fence and she wants 700+ of it!! How greedy can you be?!?!?! She already has 3 times as much land as me!
The orginal creation of the right of way was created by one owner that owned my lot and my neighbor's lots. This consisted of lot #s 25, 26, & 27. There was a main year-round house on lot 27 (which is my neighbor's house) and a cabin on the northern portion of lot 25 and a railroad car (used as a summer home) on the southern portion of lot 25. In 1950 the family decided to split off the northern portion of lot 25 from the other lots (they gave this to a family member). So the right of way was created for the person in that cabin to have access to the lake and that the railroad car residents would have access to the street and not be landlocked.
WELL, that railroad car burned down in 1972 and was removed and never rebuilt (there's no foundation) and the remaining cabin was turned into a two story year-round house (which is my house).
My neighbor has been using the paved area of the right of way to park her car and her boyfriend's car on the southern portion of lot 25 to purposely block my view of the lake.
But since the orginal reason for the right of way is no longer there, is there a legal way to present to a judge to remove the right of way, especially since she has 15000 sq feet to use is she must have access to the southern portion of lot 25.
And by the way, she has a driveway in front of her house that fits 3 cars wide and 2 cars deep, so it's not an issue that the southern portion of lot 25 is her only parking.
Meanwhile my parking situation is a one car driveway infront of my house and another parking spot that is very small due to the fact that my neighbor claims is the part of right of way and blocks it.
So again my question is is there a legal way to present to a judge to remove the right of way, since it's no longer needed for it's orginal intent even though she still does use it (though it's out of spite and malicious behavior).
And just to let you know what kind of neighbor I'm dealing with...shortly after I moved in she installed a 6'8" fence along the backside of my lot to block my view of the lake (she knows that the main reason I bought this house was because of the lake), so I got permission from the town to put a deck off my 2nd floor (which of course she tried to get the town to deny me). So the following May I have the deck installed, shortly after that she has a 20' tree plant dead center infront of my deck. This tree is the kind that at full maturity spreads 20' wide (my deck is 19' wide).
The enjoyment of my home has been completely destroyed and I have been dealing with this for almost 3 years now.
Any suggestions?

[schamp]

Lots of issues there. I wonder if since the easement was for access to a place now gone could you get the easement declared void and also, an easement for access is not a parking lot. You need to decide if you are going to fight back, take it or do as others have done and sell. I guess there was no disclosure as to this neighbor. If you are going to fight and can afford it, get the nastiest lawyer in town and turn him loose until she gets nice. In some states you can't block someones view. Not sure about yours. Keep us informed.

[CompleteLossOfEnjoyment]

Thanks, I'm actually in the middle of a legal battle with her. After the tree went up and she told me she was planning on planting more, I realized that I had to something. There is a spite fence statute in MA which includes trees, I'm just trying to figure out how to get my laywer to fight more about getting rid of the right of way. She said she's going to try but because it's in her deed it'll be hard. I just have this feeling that there must be something out there that a right of way should be remove/voided if the original intent for it is no longer there. I'm not having much confidence in my atty on this issue.

[LandSurveyor]

I think that you might have a good case on the spite fence issue but the removal of an established easement is extremely difficult for any reason and your attorney should not be judged on her unwillingness to guarantee you a favorable result.

In my experience the general public seems to have the belief that if the immediate need for an easement goes away, the easement goes away. Nothing could be further from the truth.

[CompleteLossOfEnjoyment]

Thanks for the note. And don't get me wrong, I'm not expecting a guarantee from my atty, it's just that sometimes it seems that there's not enough research is done. There's been things I've had to bring to her attention. Anyway, I was just looking to see if anyone has been in a similar situation and they if they were successful in getting rid of a right of way. Thanks.

[cohenlab]

I have a similar neighbor but I have an easement over her property and she put up a fence to block me from it. I think it is extremely difficult to remove an easement unless you purchase it from the owner. If your spiteful neighbor does not own the easement she has no right to use it other than the part on her property and that area she can't place obstructions on like cars if the easement is a right of way. If your neighbor does not own the easement and she parks or goes on your property I would call the police on her for trespassing.
Let me know more about your situation and perhaps I could give more advice, I have met with three law firms about these issues and have done a lot of research on the matter.
Adam

[CompleteLossOfEnjoyment]

Hi cohenlab! The easement/right of way is in both of our deeds giving us both the right to use for passage. It's worded as a non-exclusive right of way. I have no need to use it as passage as it only leads to her property. Unfortunately part of it is on my property and even more unfortunately there is no definition of where it start or ends or the width of it on any deed. She only uses it to harass me by driving her car up and down it (its 7' from my living room and kitchen windows) and also so she can park her car on the lot between my house and the lake to further ruin my view.
She used to only use a couple feet (width wide) of my property but since I've served her with court papers she's been driving as close to my fence as possible which now she is using 8' (width wide) of my property.
That reminds me of another thing I've been trying to find out...I've heard that an easement/right of way has to be so many feet away from a house. Have you ever heard of that?
Since it is only for passage of a car I would think that it should only be 5-6' wide and that 1/2 be on my property and 1/2 on hers, not solely on mine like she claims.
So to answer your question, I own 8' wide 70' down (parallel to my house) that she has been using since I had her served which was last January (2007). I own the property but she has the right to use it by her deed, we just need the court to decide how much of my property she is allowed.
I just can't believe that just because it's in her deed that it can'tt be voided since it's not used for it's original intent and that she's only using it for harassment. I would understand if she needed it for real reasons, such as hardship, etc, but there are none.
I've offered twic to buy the rest of lot 25 and she declines because that is her way to be able to harass me (and previous owners of which many have tried to buy it from her). I wish I had known this before I bought the house. But anyway, if she was to sell it would not make her property any less of value as she would still have 12000 sq feet and 90' of waterfront property. But it would add a huge value to my home as it would give me another 3200+ sq feet and waterfront property.
Any advice?
For your situation, if you have an easement on someone's property and they obstruct it in anyway, you should be able to call the police and have them make your neighbor remove it.
There's a house down the street from me that has an easement on it, but it is a public easement, and the owners put up a fence to keep people from using it. Those that were using it complained to the town and the owners were forced to take the fence down. In your case where it's personal property and a personal easement, I would think you would just need to have an atty to send her a letter stating she's not allowed to block or obstruct this right of way and if he/she does not remove it that you will be forced to take him/her to court, which you would win. Since it is very hard to remove an easement.
Thanks for any additional information!

[CompleteLossOfEnjoyment]

Is there anyone else out there that has any suggestions??