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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
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    2

    Default Adverse Possession of Lakefront Property

    My husband and I purchase a large parcel of lakefront property in Michigan. We received a deed and title insurance. When we had a survey done it was discovered that their was a cabin built on our land. The woman we bought it from was selling it from her fathers estate and lived in Georgia. She said that she remembered staying in a cabin some years back when she came to Michigan with her father. However, an older gentleman approached us one day when we were there and said it was his land and his cabin. After much research it was discovered that everyone on that side of the lake was built over one 100 ft. lot too far. We offered to straighten it out by dividing out what we had invested and splitting the cost between everyone that was built on the wrong piece and everyone could deed everyone else the right legal. They said they liked it the way it was. The Township Assessor wrote and said that they decided that our property existed on paper but not on land so they took it off the tax rolls as non existant even though we have a survey. The equilization department said they sat down with a surveyor for hours to determine that the parcel of property we purchased did not exist on land. They did not know that we already had a survey done by the same person they claimed said it did not exist on land. This surveyor said he told the equilization department no such thing. We finally wrote a letter to the gentleman on our land to ask him to negotiate with us or remove any belongings as we were going to put the property up for sale. He only used it occasionally in the summer when he had company. Then we received a response from his attorney who appears to be stalling as well. He has never claimed adverse possession through the court system even though he has known he has been on the wrong property since at least 1989. Without us having to go to court and spend more money that we don't have to spend, can't we ask him to remove himself from the property unless he intends to file for adverse possession and doesn't he have an obligation to file adverse possession and not just utilize someone elses land and say he likes it that way? Isn't there some type of statute of limitations on adverse possession?

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    Have you tried making a claim under your title insurance policy to see if they will help you clear the title?

    The statute of limitations for adverse possession runs against you, not in your favor - that is, the statute of limitations relates to how long a landowner has to eject somebody claiming adverse possession before that person can claim title. (It isn't clear from what you write whether this person has a valid claim of adverse possession - it may be that he hasn't raised that claim because his lawyer has told him that it would fail.)

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
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    2

    Default

    Yes, we have filed a claim with our title insurance. We were denied because everything came out clear in their paper search. We did not get a survey until after we received a deed and clear title insurance. This gentleman maintains that he has been on this piece of property for 41 1/2 years. We have an idea by what we hear that he may have taken over the cabin that was there or tore it down and built his own. We asked him how he determined where his property lines were when he built. He told us he paced it off from where he thought the original boundary markers were. What type of procedures do we have to choose from and what type of time limits are we under?

  4. #4
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    Sep 2005
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    You should get assistance from a local real estate lawyer.

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