A Twenty-Foot Deed Easement and a Sixteen-Foot Paved Lane
A 1923 deed grants 'a right of way twenty (20) feet wide from County Road to the granted premises, as now laid out and used.' The physical way is a paved 16-ft-wide lane that leaves County Road at a point 18 ft south of the deed's described centerline and runs to the client's garage. The lane has been paved and plowed by the dominant owner since 1965; the servient owner now wants to move it back to the deed centerline and narrow it to 12 ft. The client asks you to survey the easement and show it as 20 ft wide centered on the paved lane. The deed also says the grantee may 'maintain and repair' the way. There is no recorded plan of the 1923 way, and the County Road layout has not changed since 1910.
1. How should you locate the 20-ft right-of-way?
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Start with the deed language. 'As now laid out and used' incorporates the physical way as it existed in 1923, so the location is a question of historical fact, not simply the deed centerline. Look for the 1923 road layout, old photographs, walls, pavement edges, and any plans. The 20-ft width is the granted width, but if the way as then used was only 16 ft wide, the grant may be limited to that physical way; if it was 20 ft and later narrowed, the full 20 ft remains. The current paved lane 18 ft south of the deed centerline may reflect a practical location by long acquiescence or prescription if use was open, adverse, and continuous for 20 or more years, but maintenance alone may be permissive. Do not assume the 20-ft corridor is centered on today's pavement. Test both the deed centerline and the physical way, and show the evidence.
2. Can the servient owner move the way back to the deed centerline and narrow it to 12 ft?
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Generally no. A servient owner cannot unilaterally relocate or narrow an easement if the change materially burdens the dominant estate. The grant is 20 ft wide, and the dominant owner has used the paved lane since 1965. Moving the way 18 ft north could disrupt access, drainage, and utilities; narrowing to 12 ft would reduce the granted width. The servient owner may negotiate a relocation by written agreement if the new route is substantially equivalent and does not diminish the easement. If the easement location has been fixed by practical location or prescription, the servient owner's unilateral change is also inconsistent with that fixed location. The 'maintain and repair' clause gives the grantee rights to keep the way usable; it does not give the servient owner a right to shrink it.
3. What should the survey show?
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Show the deed centerline and the 20-ft corridor from the deed, the physical paved lane with its measured width and offset, and the 16-ft and 12-ft lines if relevant. Label the deed easement and the physical way separately. Do not label today's pavement as the deed boundary without qualification. Show the County Road layout and the 18-ft offset. Add notes on the source of the easement, the 'as now laid out and used' language, the prescriptive or practical-location claim, and that title and easement rights are legal questions. If the client wants a plan for a relocation agreement, show the proposed new corridor and compare it to the existing rights. Recommend legal review before recording.