Squatter right (Mother to son on death of mother)

Hopefully someone can advise on my fathers situation.

My fathers mother died in 2014 leaving no will. My father has been using land owned by my grandmothers since the 1970's with her consent for farming purposes. He has been getting single farm payment on this land for many years also.

My fathers siblings are now claiming this land needs to be sold so they can get their fair share (as they put it)

Does my father have a right to this land which he has used throughout the last 30 years solely. His siblings would not have enter this land in that time. Can he claim adverse possession etc???

Any advise would be grateful before a solicitor is contacted

12 years uninterrupted use will give you adverse possession.

I seen on some forums it states you can't get adverse possession because his mother would have allowed him to run the land. Can anyone clarify further

Hopefully someone can advise on my fathers situation.

My fathers mother died in 2014 leaving no will. My father has been using land owned by my grandmothers since the 1970's with her consent for farming purposes. He has been getting single farm payment on this land for many years also.

My fathers siblings are now claiming this land needs to be sold so they can get their fair share (as they put it)

Does my father have a right to this land which he has used throughout the last 30 years solely. His siblings would not have enter this land in that time. Can he claim adverse possession etc???

Any advise would be grateful before a solicitor is contacted

If you have permission to be there, it doesn't count in terms of claiming squatter's rights.

This does not sound at all like adverse possession. Not when he had the mother's consent to use the land. Why doesn't he buy out his siblings? I see the beginning of a major family rift. Probably a terminal one.

I doubt that he can claim adverse possession, as his possession of the land was not adverse to the true owner. I believe that adverse possession can only be claimed where 1) a person possesses land without the consent of the owner; or 2) where land, unknown to be owned by anyone, is innocently encroached upon, and used for the relevant period of time to allow for adverse possession to take place.

Was your father made a promise in relation to the land, or improved the land in any way? Perhaps you could explore the route of Proprietary or even Promissory Estoppel.

SM

You have the possession but not the adverse bit. So you may be out of luck.

But as land is involved you should always check with a solicitor.

jhegarty said:

You have the possession but not the adverse bit. So you may be out of luck.

But as land is involved you should always check with a solicitor.

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Kerry 15,

Case here in Donegal ,
When owner of land died (mother)the brothers/sisters claimed that since land was never willed to the son who had used the land for years that on the owners(mothers) death they then had a claim on the land.
Once he ie long term user of the land, showed he had had single farm payments on it for years, the judge ruled that he retained effective title and in effect owned it for his time.

Now that this man ie long term user has died , there is another war going on , since other bros/sisters can now claim ownership on the basis that all he had was possession not ownership.

Suggest; get a competent solicitor.

kerry15 said:

My fathers siblings are now claiming this land needs to be sold so they can get their fair share (as they put it)

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Allow me to play devil's advocate. Why shouldn't the estate be split equally between the siblings? If your grandmother wanted some other arrangement, wouldn't she have written it down at some stage in the last 30 years?

Gerry Canning said:

Kerry 15,

Case here in Donegal ,
When owner of land died (mother)the brothers/sisters claimed that since land was never willed to the son who had used the land for years that on the owners(mothers) death they then had a claim on the land.
Once he ie long term user of the land, showed he had had single farm payments on it for years, the judge ruled that he retained effective title and in effect owned it for his time.

Now that this man ie long term user has died , there is another war going on , since other bros/sisters can now claim ownership on the basis that all he had was possession not ownership.

Suggest; get a competent solicitor.

Click to expand...

This is an interesting case and would like to see how this pans out. Curious to know that if a judge already ruled that by receiving single payments he had then retained effective title why would there then be a second case by his siblings to claim. Did the judge not rule it clearly in the first case.

Single farm payments are EU grants administered by the Dept of Agriculture, nothing to do with a court case.

Really this is a case for advice on indiv circumstances, even where there is no adverse possession, the farmer needs advice on whether there is a possibility of a s.117, proprietary estoppel or legitimate expectation, concepts on which legal advice is needed.