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May 6, 2008 6:23 am US/Mountain
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Judge: Couple Can Keep Strip Of Land Claimed
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) ―
A judge in Boulder ruled Monday a couple that claimed some of their neighbors' land under the adverse possession law didn't fabricate evidence in the case and can keep their claim.
Richard McLean and Edith Stevens used the obscure law to claim they had the right to the land since the neighbors hadn't used it in 18 years.
McLean and Stevens were awarded the land after a review of the case. The couple said it used the land as a path to their backyard for almost 20 years.
"If you ignore property that you've owned for almost a quarter of a century, never had a faintest idea what's going on on that property, you've got to take the consequences for it," said McLean.
Don and Susie Kirlin, the original owners of the land, plan to appeal the decision to the Colorado Court of Appeals.
"It is not right that someone should be able to live next to your property and decide they don't want someone to live there and manufacture a path," said Susie Kirlin. "How would you feel if someone stole your property right out from under your nose. I don't think most people, if they could fight it, would walk away from it."
Taking land through adverse possession in Colorado will be much harder starting July 1. A new law will go into effect then which was prompted by the Boulder case.
The new law requires a person to have a good faith belief the land belongs to them and raises the burden of proof for ownership. The new law also gives judges the power to order plaintiffs to pay for land they're awarded.
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