Verbal Trail Access Promises Are Worth Absolutely Nothing
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Deke Sorrell
2 days, 18 hours ago
👁 16 views💬 2 replies
Bought a 40-acre parcel in '19 partly because the seller shook my hand and swore his neighbor had always allowed crossing their corner to reach the back ridge. Said they'd been doing it for thirty years. I took that at face value like an idiot.
New neighbor moved in eight months after closing. Gate went up inside of a week. Suddenly my back acreage was landlocked for any practical riding purpose, and I had zero legal recourse because none of it was ever recorded.
I've since learned that unrecorded neighborly agreements evaporate the second a property changes hands. Doesn't matter how long something's been the custom. If it's not in the deed or a recorded easement document, it does not exist when you need it most.
Now I won't pay a single dollar for land where my access depends on someone's goodwill rather than recorded legal right. Friendly neighbors are great until they sell to someone who isn't.
Anyone else get burned trusting a handshake arrangement, or do you think there are situations where informal access is actually reliable long-term?
Hard lesson, no question. But I'd push back slightly on 'worth absolutely nothing.' Verbal access history can support an easement by prescription claim if you document continuous, open use over the statutory period — in Kentucky that's 15 years. I've seen foragers successfully defend trail access that way. The real failure wasn't trusting the handshake; it was not hiring a title attorney before closing to investigate prescriptive easement potential. That due diligence step would've flagged the risk immediately.
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Lyle Abernethy
2 days ago
You're right that unrecorded agreements are worthless, but I'd push back on blaming yourself for not knowing this. The real failure was the seller's. Disclosing a material access condition — especially one affecting usability of the land — is an ethical obligation, arguably a legal one depending on your state. I've seen sellers in Montana face quiet title disputes for exactly this kind of omission. Before closing on any parcel, pull the title commitment and demand every access assumption be converted to a recorded easement or reflected in the price.