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WOW you guys are really workin me on these easement questions lately but Im glad to offer a very limited and unresearched professional legal opinion which isnt worth much more then lay opinions posted here based on such limited information and not having researched your states common law. If you wanted a better legal opinion Id have to read all the deeds and research your states common law which requires a great amout of time along with my education and experience, so hopefully you understand why any professional or lay opinions here arent anything to hang your hat on lol. That all being said: If theres a recorded easement on your property its SERVIENT to the DOMINANT property which uses it for ingerss and egress. There are two methods to dispose of it which would be to have the Dominat landholder grant you (have to buy it most likkely) a quitclaim deed for the sole purpose of relinquishing his rights or it being abandoned which would require expensive litigation and you would have to prove and I doubt the dominant landholder is gonna lay over for that. Sooooo ooo the specific language of the easement now comes into play. From what you say (which may or may not be the case that only competent legal research can determine) it sounds like YES any successor land title holder behind you ALSO acrquires the rights from his prior title holder to cross over your land and you really dont have much to say about it PERIOD. This is subject to a few things. Its just more complicated then what it looks like here you see (i.e. why it requires legal research), but absent specific language to the contrary and absent the dominat landholder reserving rights and NOT granting alllll lll the right title and interest he had to his sucessors AGAIN YES THE SUCESSOR LAND HOLDERS THERE BEHIND YOU CAN ALSO CROSS YOUR PROPERTY The thing most lay people fail to understand is that when you convey property by warranty deed (and say you also had dominant easement rights over another property) unless stated otherwise you are granting alllll lllll the right title and interst you have sooooo oo AGAIN yes the successor also acquired the sellers right to cross over your land and thats generally so REGARDLESS of any "successor and heirs and assigns language" often cited on deeds. There are indeed reasons why n when that language is used and it has legal consquences but in our hypothetical and provided the original easement (see why its language is so important) was done properly, again, those people behind you can cross over your property even if they dont know if they are heirs successors or assigns or never heard those words before lol because basically they are sucessors of their sellers title whether they are called such or not !!!!! !!! If the seller or original easement language specifically did NOT want successors heirs or assigns to acquire all title the seller had IT BETTER BE RESERVED AND DRAFTED RIGHT IN THE DEED ALSO there are covenants that "run with the land" and some that DO NOT and all that makes a difference n comes into play Of course there are all sorts of end runs and exceptions and challenges and a ton of things to be done here and complex legal issues which is why NO PROFESSIONAL OR LAY OPININS HERE mean anyhtiNG when you get in court in your local jurisdiction. BOTTOM LINE UNRESEARCHED FREE LEGAL OPINION Those people behind you most likely DO have the rights over your property and unless and until a court rules otherwise YOU BETTER PROCEED ASSUMING SUCH IS TRUE. I definitely WOULD NOT believe any realtors or lay persons or even unresearched professional opinion to the contrary in the meantime. That easement is as matter of record for now and until its ruled otherwise WHICH IS YOUR EXPENSIVE BURDEN TO REMOVE youre probably (based on laws n research not done herein) STUCK WITH IT John T (Retired electrical engineer now attorney in Indiana)
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