easement

What is the name of your state? Florida
We have just recently bought a home that is on actually 2 diffrent private roads. The first road is county maintained until it gets to a part that is concidered private, and stops. It is in harable condition, I have motorcycles and horses, niether of which at most times can I get in and out of the property due to the road. My husband and I are heading to the county commisioners this week to see what can be done with that section...Now at the end of that section you would turn right onto what is another named road, both sides of this road are owned by 2 seperate people, and they both have legal easements threw them being 30' each side making it a 60' right of way for the rest of the families that live back here, that being about 8 families. Now the problem is the 1 person on the east side refuses to allow anyone on his 30', he blocks it with trailers and broken wood pallets, old wire, etc. He has also stated just last night that he will not allow anyone on there, that he pays taxes on it and it is his. Yesterday we had a severe storm which destroyed our other 30' to the point of no return the road actually dropped 4' onto a hole. So the not so nice neighbor stood out there telling everyone how to drive and to only be on certain parts of his property, and that no one is allowed threw if they don't live here. Well that dosen't sit well with me, we do have friends and family that he will not allow threw...
Here is what we need to know....Alot of us would like to have the 60' easemant repaired and turned into at least a proper dirt road so if needed rescue crews can get in to us, but the one person will not allow it, and he will not move his stuff off the easement so we can us it when the other half is unpassable...what can we do about changing this situation legally, before it becomes a violent situation which it as been in the past...thank you Christine

Next time PLEASE reread your post before submitting. It's barely readable with all the spelling errors.

As to what you can do, that depends on what your deed says as to the easement. So, go find it and post here exactly word for word the easement restrictions listed on your deed.

who ever just replied to me thanks but no thanks, if your going to be so nasty about spelling I guess I don't realy need your kind of help...I thought this was for advice not a spelling test...I will pay a real attorney for there help....

christinecayer said:

who ever just replied to me thanks but no thanks, if your going to be so nasty about spelling I guess I don't realy need your kind of help...I thought this was for advice not a spelling test...I will pay a real attorney for there help....

Click to expand...

**A: Oh realy? There help?

christinecayer said:

What is the name of your state? Florida
We have just recently bought a home that is on actually 2 diffrent private roads. The first road is county maintained until it gets to a part that is concidered private, and stops. It is in harable condition, I have motorcycles and horses, niether of which at most times can I get in and out of the property due to the road. My husband and I are heading to the county commisioners this week to see what can be done with that section...Now at the end of that section you would turn right onto what is another named road, both sides of this road are owned by 2 seperate people, and they both have legal easements threw them being 30' each side making it a 60' right of way for the rest of the families that live back here, that being about 8 families. Now the problem is the 1 person on the east side refuses to allow anyone on his 30', he blocks it with trailers and broken wood pallets, old wire, etc. He has also stated just last night that he will not allow anyone on there, that he pays taxes on it and it is his. Yesterday we had a severe storm which destroyed our other 30' to the point of no return the road actually dropped 4' onto a hole. So the not so nice neighbor stood out there telling everyone how to drive and to only be on certain parts of his property, and that no one is allowed threw if they don't live here. Well that dosen't sit well with me, we do have friends and family that he will not allow threw...
Here is what we need to know....Alot of us would like to have the 60' easemant repaired and turned into at least a proper dirt road so if needed rescue crews can get in to us, but the one person will not allow it, and he will not move his stuff off the easement so we can us it when the other half is unpassable...what can we do about changing this situation legally, before it becomes a violent situation which it as been in the past...thank you Christine

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An easement, by its very definition, is a "no man's land". The most benefit to the one (the one whom needs passage), with the least amount of disruption to the other (the land owner).

The one needing passage (the dominant owner), only gets the benefit of the use of the lands belonging to another, whether for ingress and egress, and/or for the purposes of utilities and the like. The owner of land BEING crossed (the servient owner), gets to hold title to that land, the dominant owner never does. That is what easements do. A compromise. A "balancing of convieniences". A solution to a problem. A real and genuine need, fulfilled...fairly, and justly.

Of course the "Owner" of that 30 feet of road way of necessity "owns" that portion of the land that the easement rests on, (and as a result [a reward if you will] of that land ownership, he pays taxes on it). No one needing access over, across or through his lands can ever "own" it, just by traveling upon it (which is why THEY DON'T pay taxes on it). They can certainly "own" that very same 30 feet if the title changes hands to one of the landlocked landowners, not until.

What to do in the meantime, you may ask?

Well, when you find that certain lawyer that is knowlegable in these areas, you just tell him to start to look in Section 704.01(2) Florida Statutes in the year 2004; where it says, in pertinent part, that;

"...shall be shut off...so that no practicable route of egress or ingress shall be available from the nearest practicable public or private road. The owner or tenant thereof, or anyone on their behalf, lawfully may use and maintain an easement for persons, vehicles, stock, franchised cable....over, under, through, and upon the lands which lie between the shut-off or hemmed-in lands.........shall not constitute a trespass....".

Then tell that wonderful lawyer that Fla. Power Co., v. Hicks, 156 So. 2d 8 (Fla. 2nd DCA 1963), says that placing restrictions and/or barriers in that easement is a definite "no no". If that same wonderful attorney asks how you knew about that case, tell them that you found it will looking at others just like it. Like, Richardson v. Jackson, 667 So. 2d 928 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996), and Fields v. Nichols, 482 So. 2d 410 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985).

The penalty for obstructing an easement such as the way you have described it, is found in Section 704.04 of the 2004 Florida Statutes. You will wish that you had gotten here sooner, you can believe that.

By the way, I too noticed the misspelllllllled words, but it didn't bother me one tiny bit. No sir, not one little tiny bit.

Did you even bother looking at the original date of the post? It's SIX MONTHS old and the poster is long gone.

Yeah there Big Kahuna, I did. But you know what? Seein's how it is still up and present in the forums archives, it might just as well be given some sort of a human answer, just so those who might come here in the future, may find some sort of help for a similar issue. Sort of like a Frequently Asked Question section...or wait, something that a search engine on the forum might find.

Yeah, Belize, I saw that date. What bothers me, is that I saw just how long you brainiacs have been toying with the "little people".

Goodness knows, you yourself made two, maybe three typos in your last post (on another thread), it just doesn't seem hardly worthwhile to scold you for it. I personally wouldn't do it because you know what they say about living in glass houses? I am over confident, you see, that i too, will make a mistake myself one day. (giggle). [the little "i"].

By the way, me being an idiot and all, do you want to call a truce? Or would you rather draw swords, go head to head, and let all the dogs out? I am very agreeable to either choice or decision you may make.

The ball is in your Supreme Court.

It's all they go for. The spelling errors. Who knows whether it's a
bunch of rude individuals in front of the computer
taking up their boring lives in researching facts and insulting newcomers
rather than real lawyers. Lawyers and real estate attornies
don't behave in such a stuck-up, arrogant fashion in the first place.

kmo199 said:

It's all they go for. The spelling errors. Who knows whether it's a
bunch of rude individuals in front of the computer
taking up their boring lives in researching facts and insulting newcomers
rather than real lawyers. Lawyers and real estate attornies
don't behave in such a stuck-up, arrogant fashion in the first place.

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Thank You kmo199, for a compliment that I do not deserve.

As I see it, you have chosen somehow, as either your first or second post ever on this forum, you chose to post to this thread. That says something about your person.

If I can tell you something about yourself that you will ultimately agree with, but never knew to consider before today, is this one thing. A universal truth.

YOU, are the sum total of all the personalities that you have had contact with in your life. Choosing, inteligently, those personality traits that YOU wish to copy and immulate; and also choosing inteligently those traits YOU hope to NEVER copy and duplicate. Repelled by those you find offensive.

I am that person too.

I myself, throughout my own life, have met every type personality that there is. The entire spectrum. Both great and small; kind and cruel. I made a choice a long time ago, that I would rather be more like those people that had been kind to me, and helpful to me...than I ever would want to duplicate the personalities of those that had been so cruel.

Take this time here (as well as wherever life leads you). Learn all you can. Decide for yourself which person you want to be. The person you want to be remembered for. Benefit from it one way of the other. Reinforce your mindset and your core personality.

This place is like a candy store for a kid like me, wanting so very much to refine my personality to the point that I can avoid those cruel and insulting personality types. Ripe for the picking, are the good and the bad examples.

I am well armed with such a volume of exposure to the cruel types as has been my personal case, thus far in this life. I too, know how to be insulting and cruel. Truth is, I am good at it when provoked, but I choose to first extend the part of me that wants to help those around me if it is my power to do so, in homage to those who were kind to me when I was in need of what I did not have, but that they did posses.

Knowledge is power. Attorneys have knowledge. Lots of it. That makes them powerful. Using that power is a concious choice. For good or for bad. Look for yourself how it is dispensed here, and decide for yourself how YOU will grow or become stagnant, and let them suffer their own personality choices.

No matter what they say to me in the future, nor no matter what has been said to me in the past. Whether they like it or not. Something that they can never control, is my ability to grow...and choose...and become...a better person for having stumbled in here. I laugh at them when insulted. I truly do. I have the ultimate lasting power. It is after all, my choice and decision to make, isn't it? To mimic them, or to take the opposite "path".

Likewise, so it is also yours.

Thank you once again.