What would you do? (property infringement)

Oh, I see...going all pop culture on us...hmmm? I want ALL the brownie points. No shirking...pay up.

I already donated some of them to the grizzly protection fund. Can't we work out a payment plan?;-)

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It's not good enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required. - Winston Churchill

What? Not the Wolf Protection Fund?

How bout a fund for save our land from churches haha Sam

Get a sledgehammer and some pickets and rope and corral the Christmas Play people in. That'll open their eyes.

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http://thissmallfrenchtown.blogspot.com/

http://thefrenchneighbor.blogspot.com/

I know that I am likely just paraphrasing here, but wanted to add to the *collective*:

Make sure your's IS yours (property). IF it IS yours, THEN...

Hire an attorney. MAKE church pay for attorney and costs.

I wouldn't *alert* the church members by talking to them. I'd have them SERVED with a cease and dissist (?sp?) letter - by the Sheriff's office.

All of this would happen, YESTERDAY! Libility is a big issue here...call Sheriff's office and file a report. Just state the facts. GET IT ON PAPER SOMEWHERE. All my time watching "The People's Court" and "Judge Judy" have schooled me on this - get reports, get it in writing, take pictures and video!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(((I know I know, watching those shows....

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Merry Meet, Merry Part, Merry Meet Again. Blessed Be!

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Sorry Rocky........the answer is still NO........the ONLY editing done was to highlite and UNDERLINE what had already been posted originally......I didn't want anyone to NOT see it........but then you go and accuse me of cheating.......

(Going to go and take my 20 points home and sulk........... )

Note: Edited to add - And no Lisa......you can't have MY brownie points either.......so there......hummmph......

where u post from?

I think you need to do several things.

First, you need to decide what you want. Do you want them not to use the property, and to restore it to the way it was? Or, do you want simply to be compensated for the use of your property? Or do you want to sell them a portion of your property? Or do you want to donate a portion of your property, and write it off your taxes. What you ultimately want will determine what you need to do.

Second, you need to go to them and tell them what they did is not acceptable, and was illegal.

Then tell them what you want.

Then tell them that your desire is to settle this quietly and quickly. But that if necessary you will have the road way removed, and the fields restored, and that you will then sue them for the cost of this, plus triple that cost for damages.

Based on what you've said, you would have no trouble winning such a case. However, you will only end up with about 2/3 of the total verdict, since the lawyers will take 1/3, and it will take you a long time to reach a settlement. And, if you win there is no guarantee they will be able to pay...

Best to settle out of court if you can

Lisa and Copperkid,

After long consideration, I decided to pack up my varda and leave town. It is a gypsy custom not to return points, so the remaining ones are MINE. Next time you're at your local fine dining estalishment, Le Feedbag, you just never know who the violinist might be...

RF

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It's not good enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required. - Winston Churchill

Maybe they figure just do it then beg forgiveness, as Baptists are wont to do. Us Anglicans would have never gotten the work done in the first place since our committees would have never made a decision to do so. Rose has great point, it affecting any future sale of your place. Talk to them and bring your Bible mentioning false witness, moving markers, stealing, and the best of all, do unto as you would have them do unto you.

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United states of America

Born July 4, 1776

Died November 4, 2008

Suicide

So what happened at the meeting???

Well, DH called the council pres. who referred us to the Deacon in Charge of Cemetary Maintenance, who is the same person we talked to at the pizza place. He was under the impression that we said, way back in July, to go ahead and use our lane. But he also said at that time that they were going to come talk to us about requesting an easement, which definitely never happened. Which hubby, in his reasonable way, explained. Said deacon wants to meet on Sat. am. On Friday afternoon hubby is visiting with our lawyer, who will hopefully write a letter to the effect that all needs to be restored on our property (and it is ours, we have a survey taken 2 yrs ago showing where the line is). I also looked up Indiana law on adverse possession (takes 10 years) a scary topic, and incidentally found that if one party owning a property requests a boundary fence, the other property owners have to pay half. So if Deacon balks at removing and restoring, we will request a fence. Hopefully we'll all still be on good terms, and we are going into the meeting with the positive attitude that it was all just an honest mistake, a misunderstanding, etc. and can easily be remedied by the removal of gravel and adding some dirt and sod back where it was plowed up.
Wish us luck. Better yet, a prayer or two won't hurt.
I like the idear of bringing our Bibles, I'd forgot about the command not to move property markers, that's a good one!
Thanks again for all your responses and advice, I really appreciate all the good ideas.
Will let you know how it turns out. DH wasn't even thinking of a couple of issues you all have brought up, so I owe you all big. Points, or whatever.

Even if you DID say that a verbal agreement isn't enough. THEY should have wanted something in writing to cover THEIR backs. The Deacon is either foolish or untruthful.

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"I am a Soldier. I fight where I'm told and I win where I fight." GEN George S. Patton, Jr.

Terri,
You started all this and it's time you come back and be more generous with the brownie points. Copperkid and RockyFields are obviously big BABIES and can't deal with the fact that i beat them. Wahhhhh! Somebody call the wahhhhhmbulance!

WHAT HAPPENED? from the sound of your first post you sounded like you were ok with the idea with just a bit of reservation.


So why not work out the situation and make everyone happy?
One of the joys of owning something is the ability to share it when YOU want to.
I do still have one question , it sounds like it would only be the ocational funeral in a small section of the cemetary that would need access is that right or do they want it for a full time thing?

Even if you both said "go ahead" to the church, written agreements are required when it comes to real estate. Verbal agreements are specifically and explicitly illegal when it comes to real estate. That's a blanket nation wide statement. It's to prevent situations like this.

Don't sweat the adverse posession, as an important step that must be taken is the court filing of the adverse posessor to take posession of the land. This must be done before any reassertion of ownership takes place from the titled owner, that's you. You've already started the ball rolling in your favor against any potential adverse posession claim by the church. When you give them a letter, you've nailed the coffin shut on this one.

If you're willing to let the turn around and access exist, renting isn't a bad way to go. You can write that up as well. It's actually pretty durn common. You retain full ownership of the land, with landlord rights to eviction and termination. Whether you try to milk it as a cash cow, or let it go for a nominal amount is entirely up to you.

Do you have a referrence for that?
Verbal agreements are pretty commom on real estate in this area, 1000's of acres at a time are put under verbal agreements.
Not saying its leagal , lord knows no one worries much about legalities here.

What people do in an area and what the law is is not always the same. If "nobody worries about the legalities"' then, nobody worries about the legalities!

Heck, in Tennessee where my husband has family, nobody seems to probate a will until 20-30 years after a person has died. They just do not bother!

Terri
LOL you guys down there sound like a real bunch of go-getters! Around here we just wait a few generations!
Our folks here are so slow to get around to things that they generally vote for 10 or 12 years AFTER they are dead!