Boundaries and Easements Seminar
Agenda
Registration: 8:00 – 8:30 am
Morning Session: 8:30 – 11:45 am
Lunch (On your own): 11:45 am – 12:45 pm
Afternoon Session: 12:45 – 4:30 pm
Locating Land Boundaries on Paper (And on the Ground)
W. Lathrop
What a deed tells us about real property interests and their locations – or doesn’t
Common kinds of land descriptions in PA:
• Metes and bounds
• Reference to a subdivision
• Reference to a tax parcel
• “Strip” descriptions
• 3-D descriptions (condominiums, split estates)
• Blanket easements
Reading a description to find evidence of location
The work involved in writing a description
Tying the paper deed to the ground: what is evidence of a boundary?
Why paper and ground may not match
When the paper and the ground don’t match: the hierarchy of evidence in descriptions
Summary: elements of a good description
Defining Trespass and Adverse Possession
W. Hoffmeyer
Defining trespass
Reviewing the history of adverse possession
Maintaining a claim for adverse possession
• Statute of limitations
• Elements of a claim
Defending against a claim for adverse possession
Examining recent adverse possession cases
Identifying, Classifying and Locating Easements
W. Hoffmeyer
What is and is not an easement
Reviewing state law on easements
Creating easements: easements by necessity, easements by use, written easements
Identifying critical distinctions between easements in gross,
easements appurtenant and prescriptive easements
Maintaining easements
Knowing when and how to terminate easements
Obstructing use of easements and determining remedies for obstruction
Understanding Utility Easements and Rights of Way
W. Hoffmeyer
Current law on utility rights of way
• Federal laws and regulations
• State laws and regulations
Types of utilities affected
• Electric, water, natural gas, telecommunications, satellite communications
Basis for and definition of the easement
Encroachments and interferences
Maintenance
Environmental issues
Condemnation law
Current issues involving utility easements
Understanding Riparian and Water Rights
W. Lathrop
The language of water boundaries
Locating land boundaries near the water line
Determining access rights to surface waters
Determining rights to groundwater
Water-related regulations affecting land use in PA
Disputes: Boundaries, Shared Spaces, and Split Estate
W. Lathrop
An overview of methods to resolve disputes
Acquiescence, laches, estoppel, and equity
Non-litigious approaches to settling land interest disputes
Examples of real-life disputes: causes and outcomes
Credits
Attorneys
6.5 Pennsylvania CLE Hours
Land Surveyors & Engineers
6.5 PDHs
Landmen
6.5 AAPL CEUs
Pennsylvania Title Insurance Producers
8.0 General CE Credits
Continuing Education Credit Information
This seminar is open to the public and is approved by the Pennsylvania CLE Board for 6.5 substantive CLE hours for attorneys.
This event offers 6.5 PDHs to Pennsylvania land surveyors and engineers. Educators and courses are not subject to preapproval in Pennsylvania.
The American Association of Professional Landmen has approved this event for 6.5 RL, RPL, or CPL recertification credits and no ethics credits.
The Pennsylvania Insurance Department has approved this course for 8.0 general continuing education hours for title insurance producers.
Attendance will be monitored, and attendance certificates will be available after the seminar for most individuals who complete the entire event. Attendance certificates not available at the seminar will be mailed to participants within fifteen business days.
Speakers
William Hoffmeyer
Law Firm of Hoffmeyer & Semmelman, LLPFounding partner in the Law Firm of Hoffmeyer & Semmelman, LLCMr. Hoffmeyer concentrates his practice on real estate and zoning law, corporate law, estate planning, decedent’s estates, and elder law. He also serves as an expert witness in real estate as well as in professional malpractice in the legal, real estate and title insurance fields and in matters relevant to defects in real estate titles. He was the solicitor for the York County Tax Claim and Tax Assessment Office from 1979 to1988. Mr. Hoffmeyer’s abilities as an attorney are recognizedby his colleagues. He is an AV© Peer Review-rated attorney by Martindale-Hubbell, and he has been recognized as a Super Lawyer for 11 consecutive years (2004-2014) and by The Best Lawyers in America for seven consecutive years (2009-2015.) A frequent lecturer, author and adjunct professor, Mr. Hoffmeyer has spoken for numerous organizations throughout Pennsylvania on topics such as real estate, legal ethics, professional ethics and title insurance. He also wrote five books on real estate law.
Wendy Lathrop, PLS, CFM, CFS
President and Owner of Cadastral Consulting, LLCMs. Lathrop is licensed as a professional land surveyor in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, and as a professional planner in New Jersey. She holds a master’s degree in Environmental Policy and has been involved in surveying since 1974 in projects ranging from construction to boundary to environmental land use disputes. Ms. Lathrop is also a certified floodplain manager through the Association of State Flood Plain Managers (ASFPM) and a certified floodplain surveyor through the New Jersey Society of Professional Land Surveyors. A former adjunct instructor at Mercer County College in New Jersey, she has also taught as part of the team for the licensing exam review course at Drexel University in Pennsylvania. Ms. Lathrop has been teaching seminars for surveyors since 1986 and has been writing articles for surveyors since 1983. She is a contributing editor for The American Surveyor magazine, and she has four articles included in the American Bar Association’s text, Land Surveys: A Guide for Lawyers and Other Professionals. She and Stephen V. Estopinal, PLS, PE co–authored a book entitled Professional Surveyors and Real Property Descriptions: Composition, Construction, and Comprehension, published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. in 2011. She is also on the faculty of GeoLearn, a web-based educational provider. Ms. Lathrop is a past president of the New Jersey Society of Professional Land Surveyors and of the National Society of Professional Surveyors, and she has served on the Board of Directors for the American Association for Geodetic Surveying.
