abandoned road ownership dispute

Hi Diane,
We own a property that sits on an abandoned town road in Connecticut. In the original deed dated 1947, the owner of the land from which our property was originally subdivided, transfered all right, title, and interest to the center line of the road to our property boundary as extends along the length of the boundary along the road. This language is consistent throughout our title lineage. Our neighbor who is the grandson of the woman who was the original seller on the deed in 1947 and shares the same sir name, inherited a very large remaining land plot, previously a farm, in 1963 when this seller died. In his probate deed, he does not acknowledge the sale of this portion of the road and adjoining property and refers exclusively to the co-ordinates on a newly created subdivision map which he ordered dated 1963 excluding any language in his deed as to his boundary as the center of the road  and makes it appear that the road is an "easement" vs. abandoned road that he created to run through "his property".  In past history, he has tried unsuccessfully to relocate this road to afford him enough land acreage to secure a building lot which the road is preventing him from procuring as it stands. Recently he decided to build on a portion of land on the other side of our road (he has enough land for one lot) and submitted a map to the zoning department claiming ownership of the entire road and adjacent property to our property line...this map was certified by the zoning department with no reference to the language of our deed or our stated boundary as the center of the road and is subsequently he is claiming all the property from the center of the line of the road to our boundary which is about 15 feet from the road and 250 ft along our boundary.  Our attorney has requested that the surveyor acknowledge our deed, and revise the map accordingly but the owner and surveyor who are friends, are ignoring our request. My attorney is advising us to do a "quiet title action" to clarify the language in our deed but this will cost us a lot of money and put our deed up for question before a judge. My attorney asserts that there is a "cloud" over our deed due to this situation. My question is....will our current mortgage lender's (major bank) title insurance have their attorney fight to clarify this for us, or will our title insurance pay their attorney to defend our title to remove this cloud over our deed. Because we are still under mortgage for 18 years, do we have the right to defend this title that the bank technically still owns? 
Thanks,
J


Hi, J:  I would suggest doing two things:


1.  The surveyor is working for the other landowner.  You need to get help in another direction.  Have your attorney send a letter to the municipality advising them of the boundary line dispute - include the evidence you have in your chain of title.  Your attorney should warn them to delay approval due to pending legal action and suggest that they may be at risk of a lawsuit should they proceed with approval of your neighbor's application after having received constructive notice of the dispute. I suggest this be sent via certified mail.  You could also write this letter yourself if you prefer.  Remember I am not an attorney but I think this approach will be helpful because most municipalities are afraid of lawsuits and most try to treat citizens fairly.  If they show favoritism to this other landowner, you could recruit assistance from the local media to shed light on that.


2.  The loan policy does not cover you and would not cover the lender in this case unless they were foreclosing.  ASAP open a claim with YOUR owner title insurance company.  Their legal department will look at the situation and make a determination whether to defend your title.  Key to this is to review your owner policy and look at the legal description - often on Schedule C.  Does it include the disputed area?  If it does, then they have insured that you own this land and you have standing to expect coverage.  If you do not see this disputed land in the legal description, there is likelihood that you won't be covered.  In either case, open the claim and let them review your case.


There may be state law which specifies how abandoned town roads move in ownership.  Be sure that your attorney has researched this angle because recitation of such a law, if it is in your favor, might help resolve the matter favorably for you.


Hope this helps.  Good luck!
Diane