Property line border

[hawkeye08]

agree with above about the fence becoming property line in latter years. Some say if the neighbor is sharing the cost and maintenance then put it on the surveyed line, otherwise make sure it is on your property. I put some t-posts on the property line to mark the boundary and the neighbor steals them or bends them up. I just keep putting them back.

My advice, if you are putting in a fence, put it on the line. Plant trees far enough from the line to maintain (as others have said above).

 

[Gale Hawkins]

The point about offset pins is great if there is concern someone would try to move a pin.

Saturday a guy at church asked where our back property line and I said the row of trees as I think most would think but he did not. Due to it being a wet area to help out himself and the church the new owner brought in a backhoe and put in 3' wide ditches about 10' on his side. Yes you guessed it. The new member 'assumed' the ditch was the line. I had worked out an agreement a few years ago where the church could use this land for a ball field since he does not use it for anything but bought it for the land that is more near him.

I keep things cleaned up (about four acres) and last year reditched 1000' since over the past 12 years they had filled for the most part so it works for both parties. Because the small church has grown so over the last few years most do not know the history of the ball field and pole barn that he lets us us to store stuff since he is too far away to use/secure it. He is open to selling us what we want when we raise the money but in the meantime I have to keep reminding some not to refer it to as church property as this is how confusion occurs. I swear in ten years there would be people upset if we drag our feet on buying it and something happens to the owner and the new owner put a fence on the property line.

Abstract deed with pinned corners and a PHYSICAL fence are required to reduce future problems 100% of the time. As noted we all forget things and/or die.

 

[teejk]

Pinned corners are what your surveyor is going to use to define your land (if he/she can find them). A good surveyor will of course verify those against any certified survey map to make sure somebody didn't move one (under the same English "common laws" that gave us most of our silly property laws like adverse possession and such, penalties for moving a boundary are severe). Draw your true "line in the sand" before you get a neighbor. He/she will most likely need to get their property surveyed at that time and if their surveyor doesn't like the line, then they fight it out with the your surveyor (in my humble experience, surveyors don't fight...they simply survey). Any fixed line will be "toast" if you have deer in the area so I would mark the lines from the corners and put in a few steel fence posts so a spool of cheap mason's line could be used to redefine the line if/when needed. Privacy wise, pick your trees and then figure out how big they will get in diameter so as not to encroach on your future neighbor's property...check state laws there...some states say the trunk rules and the "canopy" doesn't, other states say that the canopy rules and the neighbor is entitled to trim back to your property line (in some cases killing the entire tree).