Just wondering if anyone has any information about adverse possession.

We bought our house almost 2 years ago,, we had it surveyed and found that the stone wall boundary is not not the actual boundary, so we moved the wall and our fencing by about 10 feet onto the neighbors property,, which we feel is ours by the survey. They are now suing us for Adverse possession.
The former owner of my house and the former owner of their house are both backing them up in court as to what they used and thought the boundary was for over 30 years.
Can they do this and do I have a case against them if I let it go to court?
In NH,, the timne limit is twenty years,, and they have that via tack on from the previous owner. Do we stand a chance with this??

It sounds like you jumped the gun by moving the wall and fence. I would suggest that you seek a real estate attorney for guidence. I think your neighbors have s strong case, but the length of time they have actually been in the home may play a part in this and actually benefit you. I am not sure if they can go back and use the previous owners to help plead their case. If so have you tried to look up the owners who you bought the house from. Whats good for the goose is good for the gander. A real estate attorney will probably be able to give you some good free advice help you with your decision. If the first one doesnt then keep trying until you find one that does.

Thanks SSnegotiator,

Unfortunately, the people we bought our house from agree with the neighbor and are backing them up in court,, sigh,,both original owners were told that the stone wall was the boundary by the builder back in 1967 so that's what they used it that way,,
Here in NH, tacking on time is well within the law. The original owner was in the house 20 years, then the neighbors bought it 9 years ago. The original owner of my house was in the house about 20 years as well, so I think we are in trouble. Can they sue us for damages too? Once we moved the wall and fence, there were trees and shrubs that we cut down and uprooted all the plantings too,,

We honestly thought we could do everything we did. Oh boy,, maybe we should make nice with them??

Yes, it sounds like you should start working on a plan to smooze your neighbors a tad bit. Hopefully things didnt get to nasty and they are understanding. I would offer to move the fence back and re-landscape their yard. It may cost a pretty penny now, but if they want to be really nasty it could cost you a lot more in the end. Good luck!!

There could be a large number of reasons why the line moved:

- A survey marker was used for laying out the plat. The marker was later found to be in error by the county surveyor and was reset.
- A survey marker is missing and was reconstructed from other markers.
- A landmark used for the original plat has been changed (A friend has a piece of land with a plat defined by a railroad which was removed 10 years ago, and another friend has a plat defined by the centerline of a road which has since been widened on one side.).
- Geological creep moved the fence.
- An incompetent surveyor (probably employed by the developer) laid out the plat lines.
- The old survey was referenced to magnetic north, and the new one was done by geographic north.
- The surveys were done from reference points in opposite directions. The section lines in my county have sudden jogs in them, because the two teams of surveyors originally started at the east and west ends of the county and moved toward each other. They failed to take into account the curvature of the earth.