NJ Land dispute after many years

[Marek Los]

Hi everyone!

So this issue is pertaining to my parents house, which they've owned now for over 20 years.  Recently my dad got into a bit of an argument with a nonprofit organization about the tail end of our driveyway, which it turns out doesn't actually belong to us.  So we ended up having to move our car and now the little stretch of land doesn't get used.  However this prompted my dad to then study the land that we actually do own, and he realized that our neighbor inserted a fence onto land that we clearly own.  Long story short, all the land that the fence covers, including about a food into the neighbors yard is technically ours, but this must have been going on for over two decades. (Fence is fairly new, but it was built to replace a smaller fence that was there previously in the same location.)  I know this isn't exactly something that most people go through, but what would be the best course of action here.  We live in Bergen County, NJ...and at this point I'm not even sure if there is any point in taking further action.  My dad is adamant that he wants the fence moved, but I myself don't think it's worth the investment just to gain a small stretch of land.  The only concern from my end is that if we do end up trying to sell the property, will this end up rearing it's ugly head then?  Thank you!

[Chris Seveney]

Quote from @Marek Los:

Thank you!  Yeah at this point I'm not really sure if there is anything to gain from this...it's a small amount of land and just the lawyer fees and cost to rebuild the fence would make this not worth it.  Thanks a lot!

 picking fights with neighbors never ends well. How much is the fence off by? If its inches you are making mountain out of mole hill, if its feet, that is another story. Get a survey done first to show the neighbor the fence is on the property - use the excuse you are considering selling it and it will show up on title when they do the survey and will need to be moved.