driveway right of way

[Irish_Alley]

was over to my uncles house the past weekend and knew about the situation before but never really thought of it. but somehow their neighbor has a right of way on their property "my uncles driveway" he drives up it and then drives across their yard almost a 90° turn he stays near the woods but he used to drive a tractor trailer, but i think now he has stopped. i can understand right of ways and all if your land locked, but the problem i have is his yard is shaped just like my uncles and is parallel to his and his front yard touched the road. so now the big problem i have and dont understand is the neighbor has build a driveway of his own yet still uses my uncles.

i know this aint my business but my uncle is like my dad he pretty much raised us, so seeing him get upset about this kind of gets me upset. they (uncle and aunt) said they talked to a lawyer after the neighbor built his own driveway and the lawyer said he still has a right of way on my uncle property. my uncle was at work at the time so i couldnt talk to him at the time. anyone have and experience with trying to get a neighbors right of way removed? im thinking something to do with the neighbor building his own driveway should be enough since hes not land locked, and maybe if my uncle could try to get the neighbor to help with the upkeep of the driveway, if the neighbor refuses then this would cause him to forfeit his right of way.

[zieg85]

I have a shared driveway.  The deed states that maintenance is shared between both parties.  Been a couple of instances but not to bad.

[VileZambonie]

A mutual driveway is not the same as a right of way. I have an expired right of way between my neighbor and me which used to lead to a clover mill a few hundred years ago

[ehjorten]

9 years ago Marvin Heemeyer of Granby, Colorado went on a rampage in his D9 Cat that he turned into an armored tank over basically a right-of-way issue on his land!  It was a long festering issue that he received no help over from city officials.

Don't be like Heemeyer!

[81_Chevy]

i still remeber watching that on tv..

[nlauffer]

Have him check with the court house.  The Register of Deeds office or County Appraisers office should have the right away agreement on file.  If they don't have any documentation of a right away then the other person is trespassing (technically).  I don't know if they get along or not ( your uncle & his neighbor), but if a right away agreement is on file, then it will take both parties and a little paper work to have it removed.  It would be preferable to have something like this removed even if they are great friends, because later on down the road it could become an issue for the next set of landowners.  I would check the court house before approaching the neighbor, just to have the knowledge in case the neighbor does not like the request to not use that drive anymore.  If an agreement exists it could also list financial responsibilities between both parties.

[Lt.Del]

that's an interesting delimna.  I just bought a new house (haven't moved in yet-closing is Dec 30) that sits on a private road one mile long out in the country.  I have 10 acres.  5 homes share the road, and the road cuts my acreage in half. Two homes are behind me.  We all share a 9 acre lake and the road goes over the dam of the lake, then the road splits into three driveways: mine, the house to my north and the house to my east.  I don't see a problem with it.  I think all the neighbors get along very well and respect each other.  We  all have a gentleman's agreement to take turns putting gravel on the road. My 3 acres north of the road is my lawn and house and garages and the acreage below the driveway is my wooded acreage which soon will be ATV trails and a firing range.   check out the link: http://www.delbridge.net/13green.html 

and the land plot shows in purple the road that is shared.  My property is seen outlined in red.  The blue is the lake. The road ends and splits into 3 driveways on my land--no biggie to me.
   

But, to answer your question, the solution would probably be to hire an attorney.  When the right of way was directed, he was landlocked.  Now he's not.  It is not needed.  He can easily get that changed then nail some no trespassing signs.

[Irish_Alley]

so since hes(neighbor) is no longer landlocked he "legally" has no rights to the right of way, if they get a lawyer involved then no agreement between the two partys would be needed?
i want to say they both where happy with each other. then something happened. i think my uncle rode his atv and crossed the property line or something to that effect in the woods. and next thing you know "no trespassing" sign where put up. So the neighbor build his driveway (which I don’t understand if his property touched the road then how does he get a right of way, maybe it was something before they both got the propertys) but what really got to my uncle is when he and his grandkids would be playing in the front yard and next thing you know the neighbor would come rolling down my uncles driveway and blasting his horn.

[Lt.Del]

the neighbor may still have a legal 'right', depending on what a previous agreement says--which should be documented in the courthouse. However, now that he isn't landlocked, if a legal agreement did exist, it could in theory be expunged.  An atty can check that out and initiate the legal process.

[Irish_Alley]

i dont even see why he would use my uncles driveway straight shot to his place if he uses his own and its shorter

[Lt.Del]

that could definately be changed if there is a standing order.  An attorney won't charge much to get that going. If there is no standing order, some no trespassing signs should do the trick.

[Irish_Alley]

oh yeah ment to say WOW on the house andy. looks like some hard work finally paid off. you could get lost (mentally) there real fast.

[Lt.Del]

Thanks Irish.  In my 22 1/2 years working in my current agency, i've never been more stressed there than I am now, since becoming a captain.  You guys haven't seen me on this site in a while--just been too busy. So i've decided I will retire at my earliest chance, which will be in 3 years and 10 months.  but who's counting. So, i decided to hunt around and see what's available while interest rates are still low and I still have decent income coming in, for my retirement oasis.  This is the first property we saw on a day we saw 7 properties, about 30 minutes from where my wife and i work.  We all fell in love with it.  My son and I can ride our ATVs, go fishing, take a walk along the one mile drive way--and the peace and quiet are amazing. It is a way, as you put it, to mentally get away from everything--exactly.  Did i mention the 2.5 bay garage and large shed???  this place has it all--we had our offer approved within a week.

[nlauffer]

By the look of the photo the neighbor was being lazy and/or cheap and just using your uncle's driveway.   Hope there is no real paperwork on a right away and it's easy to accomplish.

[78 Chevyrado]

Essentially, Driveways mean nothing, no matter how long they've been in placed and used.  It's what the county/state says whom owns it.

I live next door to my parents,   We share a driveway that splits about 200 ft from the road.  IF THEY WANTED TO, they could make it so I could never use it again and would have to recut my own NEW driveway to get to the road.  Unless landlocked or talking about the part next to the road the state always has right to, right of way is non existent.  it's your problem, even if you have to mow down 500, 200 yr old oaks to do it.  At least in GA, anyway.

My parents could at anytime deprive me of use of THEIR driveway and I'd have to cut a new one and have the gravel brought in n such to serve myself.

Basically, Whose land is it?  they have last say period.