Adverse Possession in Boulder

by John Callis , Boulder real estate expert

Can you imagine losing part of your land to a neighbor without any compensation? That’s just what happened in Boulder, Colorado.

 

A couple in Boulder has taken over a parcel of land that bordered their property in an action know as " Adverse Possession". A little known law that allows people to lay claim to land they have used for at least 18 years as their own if they are more "attached " to it than their true owners. They must show "open and conspicuous"use of the land.

 

Richard McLean, a former district court judge and former Boulder mayor, and his wife, attorney Edith Stevens, won possession of a portion of a vacant lot that belonged to neighbors Don and Susie Kirlin for nearly 25 years. McLean and Stevens claimed that because they had been using one of the Kirlins’  two lots to access their backyard, and the Kirlins’ never asked them to stop, they had become the de-facto owners of the small parcel of land. Some evidence of McLeans’ firewood and a path to the firewood storage was presented in court.

 

The Kirlins’ property, located in the Shanahan Ridge development in south Boulder, was bought as a location for their dream house to be built at some time in the future. The lot has a clear view of the mountains and the surrounding open space. The  Karlins’ offered to giveth couple 5 feet of their land from the existing fence line to accommodate their concern, but their offer was rejected. Don Karlin says"I believe that their intent was to make my backyard unbuildable because it would block their view of the mountains and the southwest open space not because it would limit access to their backyard".

3 Responses to “Adverse Possession in Boulder”

1. Darla on November 25th, 2007 8:47 pm

   Just because you can, does it mean you should? Do you think the fact that McLean and Stevens were both in the legal field had any bearing on the outcome?

2. Anna M Brooks on November 29th, 2007 6:23 pm

   If you believe that the fact that McLean and Stevens being in the legal field had any bearing, you are right.

   If you do not know your rights, you do not have any.

   Visit: http://www.BrooksGroup.info to give yourself, your family and your business everyday access to quality legal advice through a membership. Can you imagine being able to call a top rated law firm and asking the questions BEFORE taking the action for less than the cost of a bottle of water a day? I have for the last two years. Those answers have saved us thousands of dollars.

3. Catherine Potts on December 15th, 2007 11:50 pm

   Hey well… we have a case going on in Denver County where my grandparents passed away, the neighbors to our property (of just over an acre) filed a hostile landmarking application for the WHOLE parcel (split into three parcels in city records). When they didn’t get it all then, they encouraged the lady next door, who is a naturalized citizen (we assume) from Spain (whose second ex-husband bought my great grandparent’s house in the 70s-she won the house in the divorce in 1998 and was only first placed on the title in the early 90s) to file an adverse possession case against us to cloud the title of our land so we can’t sell. This claim makes the property far less attractive.

   They’ve so far managed to repeatedly harass us while we’re on this narrow strip they claim we don’t own, steal ‘no trespassing’ signs and assault my mother. There are TWO permanent restraining orders against the husband/wife lawyer team who assaulted and harassed my mother.

   The neighborhood supports their behavior. They have had meetings discussing how damaging landmarking would be financially. One neighbor was quoted as saying we deserved it. Why? We never did anything to these people. Also, they’ve attempted to get us blacklisted from any buyer of higher dollar properties, perhaps interested in developing it. They admitted to having a phone list of people to call and have drive by the property if they saw us out there working. Just to make sure we weren’t “doing anything wrong.”

   We’ve been on this property for going on 90 years and this is how they treat us? It’s so bizarro as compared to the outrage in Boulder. These neighbors to our property simply don’t want anything built. Yet they’ve overbuilt on their property. Also, the lady (who plays as if she is a weak immigrant just trying to make it in her new land- yeah right) has changed her story NUMEROUS times on what she “believes” she has always owned. We’ve had many surveys and this last year, they actually pulled out the survey pins as well! They’ve harassed our surveyor… you name it. Stepped in front of a running chain saw, yelled, screamed, filmed… Anyway, she has not used the property and we have proof. She fears things will change, just like they other neighbors fear. So they apparently feel it’s OK to financially destruct my family just so they won’t have another house next door. Did I mention that they happen to have 75 acres of park land across the street, collectively? Why us? Why our land? Why do this kind of thing? I just don’t see how people can live with themselves, knowing they’re destroying lives. Land/house ownership is generally the largest asset in a person’s life. At what point is someone going to realize that if they do something like this, eventually they’re going to run into someone who doesn’t necessarily have the restraint we have had? People are really playing with fire.

   If you’re interested in reading the articles done in the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News, do a search in Google for ‘S.R. DeBoer’. We have the #1 spot in the rankings, the neighbors have #2. Feel free to peruse their site’O'lies. You’ll be able to see some of the articles written on our situation in regard to the landmarking. Did I mention the total corruption in the City? It seems that Colorado has some work to do in finding ethical people to run our cities.

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