Easements and Access
We represent owners who need access across a neighbor’s land and owners whose land is crossed, in establishing, writing and enforcing easements for roads and utilities.
We review the deeds and the record title to find out whether an easement exists in writing, by long use, by the way the land was divided, or by necessity. Where the parties can agree, we write the easement: its location, width and purpose, and who may use it, gate it and maintain it. We also write the access and utility easements a sale or a land division requires.
Where the parties cannot agree, we bring or defend the case in circuit court: a declaratory judgment on what a deed or recorded easement means, a prescriptive easement claim based on ten or more years of open use, or a way of necessity for a parcel with no access.
Services we provide
- Easement and road maintenance agreements
- Declaratory judgment actions
- Prescriptive easement claims
- Ways of necessity
Statutes and rules
- ORS chapter 105, Property Rightsthe actions to recover possession and quiet title, and the rule that holders of a shared easement split its maintenance (ORS 105.170 to 105.185).
- ORS chapter 28, Declaratory Judgmentsthe action that asks a court to declare what a deed, contract or easement means.
- ORS chapter 376, Ways of Necessity; Special Waysthe petition for a way of necessity when a parcel has no access at all (ORS 376.150 to 376.200).
- ORS chapter 368, County Roadshow a road becomes, stays or stops being a public road, which decides many gated-road disputes before any easement question is reached.