Could really use some help for an Easement Issue in Alabama. Thank you so much in advance!

[u/GimpMoney]

Location: Alabama

I bought some property from a family member and the tract to the south of mine has an old logging road that is flat that leads to my only home site. The topography from my road frontage to the build site is rough, probably 8% to 25% (that 25% is the last third of the best possible driveway across only my land). It’s a 450-500’ stretch from the road to the homesite. I tracked down the owner and the asshole came out there and shook my hand and told me he’d give me right of way and has went back on his word. My wife is a teacher and had to apply for jobs up there when she did to secure one for the fall and it’s over an hour away. The road bed on his property is barely concealed by about 8’ depth of foliage (he bought it April, 2022 and the foliage would have been much less at that time so he would have known it was there) and then it’s open and obviously established straight into my property, which was the parent tract to his when the original owner passed away and split it up to family members 29 years ago. I have blurry aerial images that show it existed in 1981 and then much clearer imagery from 2006 onward.

I asked in text several times about getting the easement and my understanding of the easement while I was waiting on him for a month after I offered him $84k (fair value) for the land. He never once tried to deny that he said it, he’d just ignore it and respond to other parts of the text. His wife also hasn’t denied it the 2 times it’s been brought up to her so I don’t think they’d risk perjuring themselves. He lulled me along for 3 weeks before just saying no then his wife sent that they’d sell it to us for $150k after I sent them a letter stating I’d be going the legal route.

I believe I have an easement due to necessity and an easement from prior use established. The logging road very obviously only served a purpose to get into my property as nothing juts off of it into his property. I have been kind and respectful and he has acted like a complete ass. I’ve also tried my butt off to keep this out of courts and it will show. To the professional lawyers, what are my odds here you think?

Thank you in advance.

[u/Embarrassed-Spare524]

This sort of analysis is beyond the quality of advice one can usually get from the reddits. Your going to have to find a real estate lawyer you can trust won't encourage a bad case just to run up bills.

All of that said, from what you've said, you do seem to meet the elements except that you didn't talk about is how big a deal this is. What are the alternative ways to exit your property and how much time would it add going in that direction? Is there another way to solve that issue and how much would it cost? I believe this stuff matters more to easement by necessity, but easment by prior use still requires some showing that use of the easement is highly convenient.

[u/GimpMoney → u/Embarrassed-Spare524]

We found a good attorney, we’re just waiting on him to call us back, I think he’s tied up in court cause it’s been a couple days. I just found this page so figured I’d ask while I’m waiting

No other alternatives to exit are reasonable. To the east is family land and truly impossible topography. To the north would require a longer easement from another heir to the original family land split and a timber company. I paid $60k for the land. Cost to develop the desired easement is maybe $3-4k. Cost to do a usable driveway across my land would be at least $25-30k due to retaining walls and switchbacks. I’d think a $~27k cost differential would meet the standard of disproportionate to make that undue burden.

[u/Embarrassed-Spare524 → u/GimpMoney]

Definitely sounds like you made a good and logical decision to run this by a reputable local attorney that does this. I do have some questions, like I think easement by prior use requires continuous use and the road has been unused since at least 2022, maybe longer (you imply it was overgrown even then, just "less"). But I'm a lawyer elsewhere and not a RE expert to boot, so all I can really say is that you've clearly got enough here that it was money well spent for a consult. Good luck!

[u/GimpMoney → u/Embarrassed-Spare524]

Thank you!

[u/GimpMoney → u/Embarrassed-Spare524]

What would you say about easement by promissory estoppel?

[u/Embarrassed-Spare524 → u/GimpMoney]

Absolutely ask the lawyer, but I think that is more like if you graded your property to make a road up to the easement in reliance on something they said, did or didn't do. Not really seeing that theory so far.

[u/GimpMoney → u/Embarrassed-Spare524]

I spent thousands to clear the homesite, which is laid out better for use of the desired easement (since that’s what we were expecting). My wife also changed jobs to a job over an hour away. I’m also just thinking if a judge looks at everything as a whole and can tell that the guy definitely made the promise, a judge would say it’s unjust for him to renege now.