Survey Dilemma
By Jim Palmer Jr.

Recently a past client called me for a referral of a surveyor who could help him with a dilemma concerning a boundary line dispute between him and the neighbor.  At some point in the past the neighbor had hired an unlicensed surveyor to put some wood stakes in the ground to delineate the boundary line. When the unofficial stakes were installed the dispute died down since they both sort of agreed with the location of the markings.   After some years passed, the neighbor decided that because that partial survey was unofficial that he could now take the liberty to move the stakes at his will, which he did, much to the dismay of my client.  The dispute had perpetuated from many years ago even with the previous owner, and was now rekindled.  This bickering caused a nasty situation where the sheriff was called and escalated to the point that legal action was taken and a legitimate surveyor had to be called in to definitively mark the boundary, permanently and officially.

Surveyors in this state are required to be licensed and have certain duties.  If they record a survey, it has to be marked on the ground with pins.  Conversely, if they mark it on the ground with pins, an official survey must be recorded at the court house.  That leaves no doubt to the authenticity of the markings, though in rare instances a new survey with newer technology may discover some old survey markings to be in error.  Those old survey pins, even though definitively debunked, cannot be removed or moved.     

If, in the case above, the survey had been an officially recorded survey, the neighbor would have committed a crime by removing or moving the survey pins.  This scenario happens frequently, especially between feuding neighbors.  If you have a dispute with a neighbor who has recently had a survey completed, refrain from destroying the evidence of that survey and call your own surveyor who can either verify its accuracy and explain its rationale, or possibly dispute the neighbor’s new survey.  If there is a disparity between the two different surveys then you would need to make an official lot line agreement that is recorded and settles the dispute once and for all, or take your chances in court with probably the same outcome, but you will end up with a thinner wallet.    

Because most modern surveyors are using the latest and greatest technology, it is unlikely that a different surveyor would come up with a much different answer.