Original Monuments, a Later Fence, and an Adverse-Possession Claim
A 1972 subdivision map for Maple Ridge Estates depicts Lot 14 with 150.00 ft of frontage on a town road and two side lines called 200.00 ft to iron pipes at the rear corners. The current deed repeats those calls and adds a 20-ft drainage easement along the rear. You recover the two front granite bounds, but each lies 0.22 ft inside the deed frontage; the east rear iron pipe is 0.38 ft east of its calculated map position, while the west rear pipe matches within 0.04 ft. No original cap is visible on either rear pipe. A neighbor's 1998 fence runs from the east rear pipe to a point 3.1 ft west of the east front bound and encloses a narrow strip. The neighbor claims the strip by adverse possession and asks you to show the fence as the boundary. The client insists the map show only deed distances and omit the fence.
1. Which evidence should control the location of Lot 14's corners, and how should the 0.38-ft rear discrepancy be resolved?
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Start with the hierarchy of boundary evidence: original monuments set by the subdivision surveyor generally control over bearings, distances, and area in the deed. The front granite bounds are the strongest evidence for the road frontage; the 150.00-ft deed call yields to them, and the side lines should be run between the recovered front and rear monuments. The rear pipes require more care. A missing cap does not by itself disqualify a pipe, but you must test age, physical character, position relative to the map, occupation lines, and the other pipe. If both rear pipes are original, both control and the 0.38-ft difference is a map/deed discrepancy absorbed along the rear line; do not average the pipe and the calculated position. If field evidence shows the east pipe is a later replacement, reject it and use the best available original evidence, such as the west pipe plus the map. Document the reasoning and do not present a false precision.
2. How should the neighbor's adverse-possession claim affect the survey and the map depiction?
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A land surveyor locates the boundary evidence and reports occupation; the surveyor does not adjudicate title. The fence is occupation evidence, not a controlling boundary monument, and a 1998 fence by itself does not prove all elements of adverse possession under New York law. Those elements ordinarily require actual, open, notorious, exclusive, hostile, and continuous possession for the statutory period, and the specific facts here are incomplete. The map should show the deed/monument boundary, the fence, the measured offset, and a clear note such as 'fence shown for information; not a boundary monument.' You should not move the boundary to the fence at the neighbor's request. You also should not omit the fence at the client's request, because doing so conceals a relevant discrepancy. Explain to both parties that title questions should be referred to counsel, and disclose the discrepancy in your report so the client and title examiner can evaluate it.