"Who owns what?", can become horribly messy over time. For more than 15 years my neighbor assured me he would sell me some land I was renting from him, once he finally tackled the settling of his parent's estate. He up and died on me in March. The settlement never occurred. When I brought this up to his widow last month she said they had decided to ignore the settlement issue and pass it along to the next generation to resolve. So long as someone pays the property taxes every year, this may never get addressed. I will be pushing up daisies by then, so my hopes have been dashed.
My neighbor's father purchased the ground about 90 years ago. He was married, at that time, and had a stepson from the wife's first marriage (of four marriages). Then he and his wife had a son but then they divorced. That son knocked up a neighbor girl at 16. That son, his wife (who married two more times) and their baby are all dead by now but the wife went on to have four more children with her last two husbands.
My neighbor's father married wife #2 and had three children with her. The first child is still alive, but, 84 years old and on welfare. She had two children (one already deceased) with her first of three husbands (all deceased). The second child had nine children and both she and her husband are deceased. The third child (my recently deceased neighbor) has one son apiece with each of his three wives.
My neighbor's father who actually purchased the land died in 1968. His mother died nearly 30 years ago. No settlement action has ever been started. No one person wants to take on the expense to end up with a share of inheritance that would probably be worth less than the expense of the action.
Be glad you are a surveyor and not a title examiner assigned this project.
Cow, I had to get 4 new cups of coffee on your post!
Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country. Typing class 9th grade!
The narrative reminded me of the old gag song, "I'm my own grandpa."
I recently had a client with similar (although not quite as messy, but close) title problems. She wanted to clean up the title for a sale and needed permission from one "missing person". She apparently was hiding from the law or something. My client was trying to track down her cousin through facebook. Amazingly after months of her investigating she finally found her. All the stuff about the law and her hiding turned out more to be about how she wanted nothing to do with the family.
Lost out on buying 80 acres about 40 years ago because an aged mother living in a distant nursing home had given all eight children (most in their 60's) co-power of attorney. The farm was listed with a real estate firm and I gave them a 10 percent cash retainer for the full asking price. When I finally tracked down the one arbitrary sister, I learned she simply didn't want to sell the home farm just because the mother might want to move home someday. The others assured me they really needed to sell to pay the nursing home bills.
I am in the same boat. 50 acres next to me I have the first right of refusal on. Wife passed 3 weeks ago. Good neighbor in 90's. He has been in and out of ER since. Long lost child in her 60's moves in to take over everything. I do a lot of work to bush hog pastures clean up trees after storms etc.. Now he just wants to leave it to her. Guess I did get lucky and bought another 40 acres down the road last year so am surveying it now and getting plot plans and working on the house plans. But after being here for 11 years and they always saying it will be ours someday soon just never happened. I cut hay for a few years on it but he let another man start he totally forgot he had allowed me. Sometimes a written agreement is better as he cant remember everything now days.