OP, I should say that in most states (well...many states) someone using land for a certain number of years can claim that land.  So the gentleman's agreement can turn into actual loss of land with no recompense.  

You are definitely right to get this Right of way, Easement, or whatever you choose to do, set in writing legally.

I know it seems like subdivisions will never come to you, but things happen.  Many, many people have had their ways of life damaged by not  looking at the worst possibility happening in the future, and planning for THAT.  

Hopefully it never happens. If it does, you have your ducks in a row.

Trade an easement for title to at minimum an equal area of property from the 50 acre parcel.

That easement is more valuable than the adjacent property.

The easement boundaries must be clear, and then enforced to avoid future bs.

Yes, and he will gain title without a fight.

Pay attention to Fredman.  If you want the new neighbor using the property to store his equipment, including the junk, then do nothing.

Trade for a strip along the full width of your property, and not just an acre, that new driveway is multiples more valuable as it is useful and will persist forever, or until someone combines all of those adjacent properties.

It's business that doesn't need to be hostile, just fair to everyone.

People underestimate or blow off the "they've used it for 10 years, and now they can claim it" thing, but it's real.  

I was a little girl when my dad was running his trap lines along the creek at the bottom of our property.  Creek ran along the property line, sort of.

I always went with him to check the traps.  It was winter, and there was snow on the ground when we made it to the edge of the property...except it wasn't.  There was a brand new fence...three strands of barbed wire...across a small corner of my dad's farm, running all the way to the creek and across.  

The neighbor's house was across a bit of field, and then...the road.... from that new fence.  

There were not cell phones then.  I remember clearly, my dad showing me the fence.  He said, " (name of neighbor--let's call him Joe which is not his name) has a habit of fencing off little bits of land.  If that fence stays there for a few years, that land will be his.  Joe has added to his property on three sides by doing it."

So we made it back to the house.  My dad had me look up Joe's number in the phone book.  The phone book was less than half-an-inch thick, including the yellow pages.  We had a party line.  He picked up the phone. (This was a big deal because my dad NEVER used the phone.  He would ANSWER, but he never made calls.) It was one of those old black telephones with the round dial and the cradle for the handset.  It sat on a small table just inside the kitchen.   He stood there while it rang until Joe's wife answered.

"Maxine, this is (my dad).  Get Joe on the line."  

Joe came on the line.

"Joe, this is (my dad).  Take that fence down across the corner in front of your house.  If it's not down by day after tomorrow, I'm calling the sheriff to come out and cut it."



I don't know what Joe said.  But the fence went away.

And after my dad died, we had to help my mom police the property the same way. Because Joe's sons had the same habit.


Folks don't understand that "use" will turn into ownership, if attention is not paid.

There you go.  An unrequested Kitties story.

I agree.  However the "granted permission" often gets very murky years down the road, when people have moved on and others take their place, and when nobody actually remembers, or forgets to assert, the facts of the deal.

Let's be sure to maintain civil discourse.

This is an excellent discussion, but nobody here is getting sued, and only one person, OP, has skin in this game.

See this is interesting.

Your requirements for adverse possession are FAR more stringent than ours.

AND...Your "will be an easement" statements...yeah, there may or may NOT be one here.

State to state, this differs significantly.

I agree completely with your end statement.  Get the easement, defined clearly, with rights, boundaries and obligations expressed.  And set limitations.  In writing, with lawyers and the required assignation for your clerk/county/state for the recording of deeds and amendments.

I think it is changing here, but perhaps more slowly.

We still have some degree of "do something stupid, reap the rewards."

Meaning if you buy a landlocked piece of property, and nobody will grant you an easement, well...wtf were you thinking when you bought it?

I will tell you that depending on the county and the government in said county, this may or may not apply, and the whole "you need to have intelligence and be smart about these things" is dying here, as it has died in so many other places. (I don't think that's all bad.  But I do kind of hate that the requirement to know what you are buying is fading away, as an indication of the intelligence and capability of the population in general. )

Anyway.  We are probably not far behind you.

But we are not there quite yet.

I edited the person responding to you.  His response was inappropriate.

~Kitties

Yes indeed.  Ours is not nearly as onerous.

However, even ours is very frustrating.  I, too, understand why they do it.  Just a hassle and can cost a lot more money than it should have to.

And that is exactly what will happen.

Pretty soon you have the "good guy's" kids/grandkids/POS friends tearing up the road with atvs, making ruts in your fields, etc.

You want to help the guy and that's understandable- offer to sell him a sliver of land into his piece where he can develop his own road.