land rights

My father has land and someone started building on it.When he went to get the survey from county offices they had no record of it. He also had a surveyor come it. He was basically told that there is no record of his land. He can prove 1 acre out of 20 or 30. He has been paying taxes on 20 or 30 acres for quite a few years and was told he can not be reimbursed for the extra taxes. What can we do to fix this?

[HomeGuru]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by abbeydog:
My father has land and someone started building on it.When he went to get the survey from county offices they had no record of it. He also had a surveyor come it. He was basically told that there is no record of his land. He can prove 1 acre out of 20 or 30. He has been paying taxes on 20 or 30 acres for quite a few years and was told he can not be reimbursed for the extra taxes. What can we do to fix this?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I have more questions than I have answers. How did your father aquire the land, what instrument was used to transfer interest, if a deed, where is it and what does the legal description say, did he get a survey map when he bought the property, what does the tax map key indicate as far as acreage owned, who is the owner of record as noted at the real property tax office, who is the owner of record as noted at the recorder's office via a title report, did/does he have title insurance, why would the county offices have a survey, how can he prove that he owns at least on acre, how many years has he been paying the real property taxes, what property does the taxes that he paid cover (how many acres and owned by whom), who owns the other 20-30 acres etc., etc, etc****************************