Farmers Legal Assistance Network

To visit the main page of the Farmers Legal Assistance Network, go to:  farmlawhelp.com



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The Doctrine of Title by Acquiescence: Losing Land by Agreement or Consent.

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            Rarely does a person agree or consent to lose part of their land.However, such can happen in cases where a fence between neighbors turns out to not be on the legal boundary line.The norm is that a fence between neighbors is erected on the legal boundary line between the two adjacent properties.However, sometimes landowners have a mistaken belief that the fence marks the legal boundary line between two properties when it actually does not.Other times the adjacent landowners agree to treat an existing fence not on the legally boundary line as the legal boundary line.No matter the various circumstances, a fence that is believed to mark the legal boundary line, and turns out to not be the case, usually leads to a dispute at some point.
How does the law generally treat these instances where an individual is acquiescent to a boundary fence not being on the legal boundary line?Enter the Doctrine of Title by Acquiescence.Essentially, this doctrine determines the legal boundary lin…
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The Doctrine of Adverse Possession: Gaining or losing land by conquest.

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Last month we covered the Doctrine of Title by Acquiescence.The law of acquiescence pertains to adjoining property owners who are either mistaken where the line between properties are, or agree that a fence or barrier that is not on the legal boundary line is to be considered the legal boundary line.So, under the law of acquiescence, land can be gained or lost by mistake or by agreement.
Another doctrine where land can be gained or lost is the Doctrine of Adverse Possession, sometimes referred to as “squatter’s rights”.Adverse Possession occurs where a person in possession of land owned by someone else may acquire valid title to it, so long as certain requirements are met.It arises from English common law, where land in England was continuously changing hands not via purchases, but conquest, pillage, theft, etc.The theory was that if you could show you possessed land long enough, your title to the land would not be questioned.
When our country was founded, although there was less conq…
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The Chapter 12 “Cramdown”: Leveling the Lender's Playing Field.

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This past week Congress was actually able to agree on something and the Family Farmer Relief Act of 2019 was passed.  The Act serves to raise the current debt limit for Chapter 12 from 4.2 million to 10 million.  Some have bemoaned this as only helping “big farms’, whatever that is, but in an era where a combine can approach a half million dollars, many smaller or medium sized farms found themselves up against the previous debt limit.   Without the ability to utilize Chapter 12, instead of restructuring, the famer is generally liquidating.             In helping many farm clients over the past year who have been experiencing financial difficulties, I am simply amazed at the inability of some lending institutions to work with the farmer who is experiencing financial difficulties.  Don’t get me wrong, some lenders have been very good to work with and are open to forbearance agreements, debt reconstruction, and other measures that keep the farmer able to continue on.  On the flip side, s…
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