We did speak with the previous owners. The fence was there when they purchased the property. The neighbors house wasn't built until 2006. Up until then, and even now, the pasture line runs almost perfectly on the surveyed property line except for a small section. The barbed wire runs off into our woods and is overgrown and long since grown into trees. Most of the property I am talking about is in the woods. I found an areal image of the area from 1955 - and the pasture was the same way then before any of us even existed. Only one photo that I can find from a winter that even shows the fence line and that's because the fence is full of sticker bushes and other weeds.
The prior owners of my property didn't have an agreement with the prior owner of the pasture over the land. They didn't force him to move the fence either. They said they thought he was an honorable man and are disappointed we are having to deal with it. I can see where they are coming from. Why make an issue if there doesn't seem to be one? Thus, they disclosed the fence line to us in the paperwork. They weren't aware of any dispute or misinformation.
All surveys, documents, areal photos, and satellite images show the correct property line. There exists no document that either allows the neighbor to use the land or that they can have the land. The neighbor didn't build the fence. In fact looking back through the land on the county website, I can see ownership transferring through families, and somehow in the 1970s a church was involved, but the legal description has always remained the same as far back as I can go.
A few things this lawyer in Branson told me that I became awfully skeptical of since I replied to this thread a number of days ago. It took over an hour drive time and 100 bucks to get there to see him too, which now have been a waste.
1) He said Missouri doesn't have the purple paint law after I asked him if the trees need to be exactly on the property line. He replied, "Spray the trees on your property north of the fenceline as close to the boundary. Missouri isn't a state (like Texas) that has the purple post notice thing, but it will indicate you exercising dominion over the trees on your land." I asked for a reason
https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=569.145 isn't applicable to which he hasn't replied yet.
2) I am finding conflicting information on the concurrent 10 year thing, regardless of who owns the property like he specifically said more than once. The law and subsequent legal issues seem to be more than I can interpret, but I am not so certain about being able to transfer the 10 years to an entirely different party. If that were the case, the neighbor could have bought their property than immediately have initiated Adverse Possession before they even moved in. That doesn't sound right. "Howdy neighbor, I'm taking your property."
3) I have the survey print from when the house was built, and I paid for the survey last year. They are the same. The Branson lawyer told me that if the realtor told the neighbors they own to the fence and they believed it, then that gives them some leverage. Well we were told and have proof that we own to the property line. How can their "belief" trump our "belief"? I'm not so sure about that either and do not yet have an answer.
4) The neighbor disposed of the survey stakes. Am I supposed to pay for another survey to mark these trees or just guess? I don't know the answer to that for sure either because I'm not sure I got the right information from the guy in the first place.
Tomorrow I am going to try to find a different lawyer. The one I visited was recommended from a different lawyer who didn't want to do any potential litigation because he was 68 semi-retired.
