Family and adverse possession

[dalek]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Mississippi

Link that really makes me wonder about this:

15-1-13. Ten years' adverse possession gives title.

Situation: Me and my Mom live in the same house. She is elderly and I am disabled. We sort of look after each other. I had two older brothers, one died a few years ago, so I'm down to just one. Well, 7 or 8 years ago my oldest brother wanted to move out here next to us. This is something we have been wanting for a while since they were paying rent and was not getting any younger. We have 7 acres here so we have room. The Deed is set up for a Life Estate for my Mom and it goes to me when she dies, EVERYTHING goes to me. That was done many years ago and is no family secret either. We also had a Will done to back that up, just in case. Both were done by a lawyer, tho different ones. This is also spaced out by about 12 or 13 years to. We did the Will just in case there was some claim she didn't want it this way with the Deed. I know in Alabama, adverse possession can be done in 7 years but never really knew what conditions were needed to make the claim. After researching, I found out it is 10 years here in Mississippi. I have no problem with my Brother living here but I do have a concern. Right now he lives in a mobile home and pays no taxes other than the mobile home itself. He does plan to build a house, tho I think he will be dead of old age first. lol He has cleared out some trees, moved dirt and because parts of it is close to the property line, he had it surveyed to make sure he stayed on ours with the driveway.

Questions: We gave him permission to live here and to do all this at his own expense, verbally. Can he make a claim in court and take the land? If so, how can we protect ourselves from this?

Thanks much for the time.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[154NH773]

Without some type of written agreement with your brother, you can create a legal nightmare in the future.
Sit down and decide what the terms of his moving onto the property consist of, then go to a lawyer and write up the agreement.

 

[CSO286]

The fact that he had permission to be on the land would kind of kill the "Adverse Possession" argument.

 

[dalek]

Without some type of written agreement with your brother, you can create a legal nightmare in the future.
Sit down and decide what the terms of his moving onto the property consist of, then go to a lawyer and write up the agreement.

By legal nightmare, what do you mean exactly? Could he try something else to try to take it from me?

One reason I ask, I'm not sure he would sign anything unless I just signed the property over to him. Anything less than that would meet resistance for sure.

The fact that he had permission to be on the land would kind of kill the "Adverse Possession" argument.

That's my thinking to. To me and the way I understood it, if he has permission then he fails to meet the standards to even try.

Thanks to both for the replies. Look forward to further insight on this mess. It's bad when you want to help family but the law can sort of get in the way.

 

[FarmerJ]

Perhaps a atty can say draw up for you a land lease for him that spells out that he must pay for any increases in property taxes caused by changes to the land as well as spelling out how much land he can use (like a set boundry around the area he will have use of) any way this is not a do it your self deal , speak to a atty.

 

[154NH773]

By legal nightmare, what do you mean exactly? Could he try something else to try to take it from me?

Without a clear understanding written down and agreed to, it becomes his word against yours. I don't know if he has any heirs, but in a few years people forget what the verbal agreements actually were, and then it's up to a court to sort things out.

 

[dalek]

Here is a update after emailing back and forth with a lawyer. He said this:

Yes your brother could claim the property after 10 years through adverse
possession. Best way to get around that is for you to give him permission to
live there. Draw up a document and have both him and yourself sign it

So, even tho he has verbal permission and is family and all, he can try, and most likely get, the land. So, I'm going to go have a face to face with the lawyer and see what needs to be done. I suspect that my brother is going to get mad and be gone. I hope not but . . .

So, if you live in MS and let someone live on your land, you better have papers to settle the issues. As a friend told me, this is more important when it is family. You may not see it coming.

I'll post back after things get settled as to how it ended up.

Thanks.

 

[justalayman]

You still have a problem: unjust enrichment. If you decide you don't want him on the property any longer or he just decides to go elsewhere, he may have a claim against you for the value of the house he builds.
You need to have an agreement, in writing, setting the rules of him building a home there and if and when you would have the right to boot him off the land and what happens to the house at that time. If he will not agree to such a contract, it's time to have him move, now, before he reaches a point where he would have a claim against you.

 

[dalek]

You still have a problem: unjust enrichment. If you decide you don't want him on the property any longer or he just decides to go elsewhere, he may have a claim against you for the value of the house he builds.
You need to have an agreement, in writing, setting the rules of him building a home there and if and when you would have the right to boot him off the land and what happens to the house at that time. If he will not agree to such a contract, it's time to have him move, now, before he reaches a point where he would have a claim against you.

I asked the same question. Right now, he has surveyed the land, put in a driveway, cleaned off a large spot to put a mobile home, maybe a house if he lives long enough, and cut some trees, that I wish I could keep honestly. Anyway, the lawyer said he can not claim anything on that, not here anyway. If he builds a house and doesn't own the land, legally it is mine. Since I have not asked for the house, he can't claim anything.

As the lawyer asked me,

If you own property and someone comes on your property without your
permission and does work that you have not asked them to do, why would you
owe them anything?

Keep in mind, legally he doesn't have permission because there is no papers. I see your point tho especially when it comes to the house part. I'll post back what the face to face meeting results in.

 

[justalayman]

dalek;3029279] If he builds a house and doesn't own the land, legally it is mine. Since I have not asked for the house, he can't claim anything.

I suggest you get a second opinion. Especially without any written agreement, brother could make a lot of arguments that would claim you agreed to pay him for the home or anything else if he left. Beyond that, you do not generally get to be enriched at his expense.

Keep in mind, legally he doesn't have permission because there is no papers.

actually, since you are aware of the situation, yes, he does have permission. It is implied since you are not contesting his actions and can be a very valid position should it go to court.

It goes like this:

your honor, I would never have built the home if I thought I could be booted and at least not paid for the building. She watched me every day building this home and never said a word about it. If she didn't want me to build the home, shouldn't she have said something?
and why does she get the benefit of the home when I paid for everything. Isn't that unjust enrichment?


judge; yes. Her acquiescence to your actions of building the home do imply she had given permission. She owes you.....

I see your point tho especially when it comes to the house part. I'll post back what the face to face meeting results in.

thanks

 

[154NH773]

I suggest you get a second opinion.

I agree with justalayman, as the points he makes are valid. There is no telling what may be claimed in the future, and what a judge may decide.
Be cautious.

 

[nextwife]

Allowing him to construct a house on the land would not be wise.

 

[dalek]

Talked to the local lawyer today. He said the advere possession would be difficult but could be possible. He put it at a 10 to 20% chance at best. My brother would have a LOT to prove. He said a lease would be the best way to go to prevent anything from coming up in the future.

Also, he explained that with the current law for this state, he is tresspassing. This state requires written permission to live, hunt, fish and other things on someone elses property. I knew about the hunting and fishing part tho. He said local DAs usually don't press unless the property owner presses it.

Also, utility companies are no longer allowed to connect utilities without a deed or some sort of lease/rental agreement. I'm not sure that applied when he got his hooked up tho. He made it sound like it did tho.

I also asked about the things he did on the land, survey, dirt, trees and such. He said he didn't know of any way that he could claim anything on that.

I'll post more as this progresses, for education purposes if nothing else.