Question about Property Easements

[Alex T.]

I own property A, and I have two identical alleyways, one on each side of my property that lead into the backyard of property B. There currently exists an easement between property A and property B which says that property B is allowed to use the alleyway on the right side of my property for legal egress to property B. Here's my question...

I'm doing work to the property, and I need to change the easement to instead allow property B to use the alleyway on the left side of my property. The owner of property B has the exact same distance to walk, the same conditions, etc - everything is identical except now I want him to walk on the left side of my property versus on the right.

The owner of property B doesn't want the agreement changed and has hired a lawyer to restrain the work that I am doing. If we put this easement in front of a judge, how do you think the judge will rule?

[Matt Devincenzo]

Theoretical won't work...easements are agreements, and are agreed to by two parties. The only way to change it is with the agreement of both parties, or as you are exploring going to a judge. The problem is the only way to know what a judge may think about the change is based upon the premise behind the change. Like it or not the other owner has rights to that easement and while you may feel an alternate easement is equivalent they are free to disagree. If the other easement is truly equal then you could just as easily use it for whatever work you are doing instead of using the one that they have...obviously that doesn't seem to be the case, so they are not objectively equal.

.....I recently spent a few days working for a lawyer as a land use civil researching an easement that involved a lease payment, the easement didn't really serve it's original stated purpose but still required this lease payment. The one owner wants to quit paying, so they offer to buy it out which was declined. Fast forward a few months and they're headed to court and will probably win resulting in a huge reduction in their expenses. The other party in the easement felt 100% he would win in court...so they missed out on their buy out agreement. But the details of the purpose of the easement and the specific terms of the easement (what rights were conveyed or withheld) will dictate how a judge may view this.

Two things to keep in mind 1) the devil is in the details 2) only lawyers win in these scenarios.