An easement grants someone access to your property for practical purposes or for other reasons. For example, your neighbors may have access to a path on your property to get to the beach. While ...

QWe have just settled on our new house. The title attorney gave us a copy of the title report and there is a reference to a "utility easement" in favor of the local telephone company. It looks as if ...

Not many weeks ago, I wrote about adverse possession and “squatter’s rights” for legally stealing title to real estate belonging to another owner. Just in case you missed it, that article explained ...

A few weeks ago, I received an e-mail from a son concerned about his 80-year-old mother's home, which apparently has its driveway a few feet on a neighbor's vacant lot. He reports his mother has owned ...

Not long ago, a neighbor asked if I knew where our sewer and storm drains are located. He wants to adjust the drainage on his property to drain into the public storm sewer drain, which I knew adjoins ...

When buying a home or property, you may discover that a portion of it must be legally shared with others. Here's what you ...

A utility company that provides service to an owner’s property usually requests the owner to sign a standard form of easement. The form of easement allows the utility company to enter onto the owner’s ...

Q: Marsha, I read your article on title insurance and you mentioned “easements.” I’m not clear what that term means. Would you explain what an easement is and how it affects title to a property? A: ...

Answer: These are two aspects of your property that you can’t access visually. Both easements and setbacks are defined by some sort of regulation or legal document. An easement is a legal conditional ...