property line dispute/legal issue

So a lawyer recommend getting a lawyer....not surprising is it?

Wutd u think is a proper recommendation - go c a Swedish masseuse??      Shd not b surprise at all

So a lawyer recommend getting a lawyer....not surprising is it?

Wutd u think is a proper recommendation - go c a Swedish masseuse??      Shd not b surprise at all

To be fair, that's what my wife does when she get an obnoxious letter from an attorney. She seems to do ok.

I used to live in a very rural area on 10 acres I built a  round pen for my gf horse training. It was on edge of property. Before I built it I had a college friend (civil engineer) come help me find the property line pins. I build it and set it back about 10 ft from were i thought the property line was. Next door neighbor a person who works as a scientist never said anything about it. One day I get a registered letter in the mail saying I built it on his property that he is going to have a survey done and I will be charged for the survey and  cost to remove the pen. I ignore it because one I wasnt  on his property. 2. This same numbknutz graded our dirt/gravel road in the middle of winter with his tractor (other  neighbors 911 sunk up to axles in the mud) so not much credibility the whineee neighbor. About  6 months latter I see him at the store say hey how did your survey go ( he paid $4500 for) ? He says  pen was on your property by about 10 ft I said I know you should of asked.

Move woodpile and ignore is my suggestion.

... One day I get a registered letter in the mail ...

Thanks for all of the advice. The letter we got was not registered---no signature required, just an ordinary letter. It could have easily been lost (mail disappears all the time from our box) or tossed with the other junk mail. Might this be a tipoff that she's just blowing smoke?

It can't hurt more than your wallet to talk to a lawyer.  I don't think it's wise to move anything until you do.

You can often get a half-hour's free consultation to ask questions like "When does this get real?"

Good luck.

Gonna pop in here without reading the full thread, but giving these suggestions/thoughts.

1. Prescriptive easements and adverse possession are non-starters.  They sound great in theory, but there are two companion cases (out of Santa Cruz actually) which make them nearly impossible, and not worth the time/effort given your situation.  If I recall correctly, neither provide for attorneys' fees, so you might as well just pay her to go away than litigate.

2.  Review your purchase agreement.  Assuming you used the standard California Association of Realtors forms, the sellers have basic disclosures and warranties.  You may have some recourse against the sellers.

3.  Check your home owner's insurance policy.  You may have coverage there.

4.  Before you make any decisions, do a cost/benefit of dealing with this hassle.  Find out what it would cost to buy out your neighbor or make her go away.  That's almost always less than fighting over it.

Feel free to PM me and I can review your issues in more detail.  We can set up (free) phone call and discuss how to, and whether to, respond.

Gonna pop in here without reading the full thread, but giving these suggestions/thoughts.

1. Prescriptive easements and adverse possession are non-starters.  They sound great in theory, but there are two companion cases (out of Santa Cruz actually) which make them nearly impossible, and not worth the time/effort given your situation.  If I recall correctly, neither provide for attorneys' fees, so you might as well just pay her to go away than litigate.

2.  Review your purchase agreement.  Assuming you used the standard California Association of Realtors forms, the sellers have basic disclosures and warranties.  You may have some recourse against the sellers.

3.  Check your home owner's insurance policy.  You may have coverage there.

4.  Before you make any decisions, do a cost/benefit of dealing with this hassle.  Find out what it would cost to buy out your neighbor or make her go away.  That's almost always less than fighting over it.

Feel free to PM me and I can review your issues in more detail.  We can set up (free) phone call and discuss how to, and whether to, respond.

Dude-

The problem neighbor is the seller (!), has a tenuous grasp on reality, and has money.  Knock yourself out.

Move woodpile and ignore is my suggestion.

This

Sounds like it's her responsibility to prove where the property lines are and then submit to you a report from a licensed Land Surveyor.
 I haven't worked with surveyors for quite a few years. My father was a licensed Land Surveyor as well as a Civil and Structural engineer. I'm guessing but that estimate of 10K is high. In the first post you mentioned the water company recently doing a survey nearby. A lot of the cost comes from surveying to the property from a known benchmark. . The recent local survey may provide a proven starting point and therefore lower the cost should you have to have a survey done.

its my suggestion is to take the surveyor's remarks (on record for your proiperty) and enter them in autocad (see link showing bearing and lentgh..) and see if the shape end up in a closed polygon...

Then do the same for her other properties...
if you find that there is overlap or gap  them someone is likely paying the tax on that overlap segment (s) more than once...

while working in the beginning of my career... I fount a parcel owner at an airport in Neveda that was overlapped for 900'  he had been paying for 30 years... he was very thankful when we told him...

http://autodesk.blogs.com/between_the_lines/2012/07/drawing-with-surveyors-units-in-autocad.html

Go knock the piss out of them.

its my suggestion is to take the surveyor's remarks (on record for your proiperty) and enter them in autocad (see link showing bearing and lentgh..) and see if the shape end up in a closed polygon...

Then do the same for her other properties...
if you find that there is overlap or gap  them someone is likely paying the tax on that overlap segment (s) more than once...

while working in the beginning of my career... I fount a parcel owner at an airport in Neveda that was overlapped for 900'  he had been paying for 30 years... he was very thankful when we told him...

http://autodesk.blogs.com/between_the_lines/2012/07/drawing-with-surveyors-units-in-autocad.html

How can this method take elevation changes into account?  For example; my property is exactly 330' x 660' according to the plat maps at the county office.  However, take a tape measure and it's a lot longer than 660' because the elevation changes by 200+' over that distance. 
For those who don't know, land is measured as if it were flat.  Measuring the earth, all the rises and falls, (imagine a 100' cliff on your property and you get the idea...) Geometry has to come into play to account for the elevation change from one corner marker to the other in order to measure what is recorded on the maps. 

its my suggestion is to take the surveyor's remarks (on record for your proiperty) and enter them in autocad (see link showing bearing and lentgh..) and see if the shape end up in a closed polygon...

Then do the same for her other properties...
if you find that there is overlap or gap  them someone is likely paying the tax on that overlap segment (s) more than once...

Funny you should mention this... Last summer, San Jose Water was out surveying, as they plan to replace the water lines. I talked to the head surveyor, and he could not stop bitching about what a mess things are. He specifically mentioned that lots of the lots do not form closed polygons, the roads (the center of which are supposed to be lot lines) are not where they should be, monuments were non-existent (he swore they were not just hard to find, but that they'd never been placed to begin with), and so on. But, none of that stops this crazy lady from thinking that she knows her lot lines to within the nearest inch...

Go knock the piss out of them.

No "them", just one "her". She's a Dutch lady who likes to try to intimidate the natives (she's also a pathological liar and all-around obnoxious person). A neighbor on the next street over had to deal with her nonsense when she lived here, and he came within a hair of doing exactly what you suggest. The sheriff was called and, ironically, the neighbor guy ultimately got in no trouble because she lied, claiming that he'd threatened her with a gun.