This office represents Sellers and Buyers in real estate transfers including cash purchase and financed purchases. A closing attorney’s primary duty in a closing is to make sure the Buyer obtains clear title to the property. As part of the process the closing attorney may also draft documents for the Seller.
Land Disputes
This office also represents landowners in all types of land disputes including bankruptcy, foreclosure, boundary disputes, easements, constitutional claims for unlawful taking by government entities, interpretations of legal documents, and partition suits.
The office also prepares legal documents used in land conveyances including the drafting of easements, deeds, powers of attorney, land contracts, and lease agreements.
Land Conveyance in North Carolina
Land in North Carolina can be conveyed by a deed or will. However, a party can acquire land by intestate succession (inheritance) or by a successful claim of adverse possession in Court. Land disputes often arise between relatives that share title to land by virtue of their inheritance. Parties that share title to land with others may petition the Clerk’s office in the County where the land is situated to sell the property and such actions are governed by Chapter 46A of the North Carolina General Statutes.
Land disputes also frequently arise between adjacent landowners because of boundary lines or structures that are believed to be an encroachment. Cloudy legal descriptions and vague language in deeds and other legal instruments can be a source of conflict between property owners.
The Fifth Amendment of the Federal Constitution and Section 19 of Article I of the North Carolina Constitution prohibit the government from taking someone’s land without just compensation. North Carolina also recognizes a statutory cause of action for unlawful takings by the government pursuant to North Carolina General Statutes 40A-51. The value of the property being taken is generally the most important part of a takings case.
The use and extent of easements is a common source of disputes because easements can be acquired by different means and often the usage changes. Easement law generally consist of the dominant estate holder and the servient estate holder. The dominant estate holder has the right to use the easement, but only for its intended purpose but does not own the land. The servient estate holder is usually the owner of the land but must not disturb the dominant estate holder’s use of the easement. Easements can be acquired in different ways and parties cannot expand the use of an easement.
Parties, usually creditors, attempt to secure repayment of existing obligations or enhance their ability to recover money from a landowner by filing judgment liens, consensual liens, or other statutory liens. Certain liens can sometimes be avoided in bankruptcy and are sometimes in violation of the law, but they almost always hinder the landowner’s ability to sell their land or use it as collateral for a loan.
If you need legal representation relating to any type of land matter or if you need a deed or other legal instrument drafted, please contact the office.