Boundaries and Easements Seminar
DISCLAIMER
Before undertaking any on-demand effort, you should review the rules of your licensing/certifying entity. It’s your responsibility to determine whether or not this on-demand course meets your continuing education requirements.
You must take and pass a quiz in order to receive credit. You can take the quiz as many times as needed and there is no time limit on the quiz. Once the quiz is completed, you will be asked to download your certificate.
Videos that qualify for AIA, LACES, ASLA, or CLARB credit will require an extra week for processing.
Streamable MP4/PDF
Available approximately 1 week after the date of the live event or the date of your order, whichever is later.
To track your purchase you will need to create an account on the website using the email address used for your registration.
For most customers, the videos run like most streaming videos on the web. For videos that qualify for AIA credit there will be occasional question prompts that will not allow the video to progress unless they are answered and you will not be able to skip forward while watching the video.
If you attempt to resume watching the video on a separate device, your progress will not be saved.
Click the link which appears at the end of the video to be taken to the course quiz.
USB MP4/PDF
HalfMoon will mail these materials via USPS. Please allow 2 weeks from the date of purchase to receive your product. If the live seminar is in the future, please allow 2 weeks from the date of the live seminar.
The link to the quiz will be available in a PDF in your USB drive marked QUIZ.
HalfMoon will contact you and issue a full refund if the product you ordered is not available. However, refunds will not be issued if completion certificates are requested.
Please contact HalfMoon Education if you have any questions during the process of taking this course. (715) 835-5900 or qchapman@halfmoonseminars.org
Agenda
Registration: 7:30 – 8:00 am
Morning Session: 8:00 am – 12:15 pm
Lunch (On your own): 12:15 – 1:15 pm
Afternoon Session: 1:15 – 5:30 pm
Resolving Boundary Disputes
C. E. Howard
Types of boundary disputes
• Adverse possession, easements, boundaries
Obtaining and reviewing boundary evidence
Methods for establishing disputed boundaries
Participating in dispute resolution techniques
• Litigation, arbitration, mediation, agreements, title insurance
Examining boundary dispute case studies: exploring techniques
for resolving sample disputes
Identifying, Classifying and Locating Easements
A. Barton
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
Locating Land Boundaries on Paper (And on the Ground)
D. Bowles
Interpreting land descriptions
• Metes and bounds
• Lot and block
• Dos and don’ts for writing descriptions
Applying principles of boundary location
• Collecting and evaluating all types of boundary evidence:
documents, physical evidence, people, surveys
• Locating the described land on a map
• Locating the described land on the ground
• Understanding and using geographic information systems (GIS)
Solving land description and boundary location problems
Understanding Utility Easements and Rights of Way
P. Barkhurst Jr.
Current law on utility rights of way
• State laws and regulations
Types of utilities affected
• Electric, water, natural gas, telecommunications, communications
Basis for and definition of the easement Encroachments and interferences
Maintenance
Condemnation law
Current issues involving utility easements
Understanding Riparian and Water Rights
R. Johnson
History and development of riparian rights
Determining land boundaries near the water line
Determining access rights to surface waters
Determining rights to groundwater
Complying with regulations restricting access to and use of surface water and groundwater
Defining Trespass and Adverse Possession
K. Silcocks
Defining trespass and required elements Defending against a claim for trespass
Reviewing the history of adverse possession
Maintaining a claim for adverse possession
• Elements of a claim
• Statute of limitations
Defending against a claim for adverse possession
Examining recent trespass and adverse possession cases
Credits
Attorneys & Paralegals
8.0 Texas CLE hours
TBLS: 8.0 Real Estate Law (Attorney & Paralegal)
8.0 Administrative Law (Attorney)
Texas Escrow Officers
8.0 Escrow-Title CE Hours
Professional Engineers
& Land Surveyors
8.0 PDHs
Landmen
8.0 AAPL CE Hours
Continuing Education Credit Information
This seminar is open to the public. The State Bar of Texas has approved HalfMoon Education as a CLE provider for attorneys. This course offers 8.0 CLE hours, including no ethics hours. The Texas Board of Legal Specialization has awarded 8.0 hours in the specialty areas of Real Estate Law and Administrative Law for attorneys and Real Estate Law for paralegals..
Texas Department of Insurance has approved this course for 8.0 Escrow-Title continuing education hours.
This seminar offers 8.0 PDHs to Texas professional engineers to whom the subject matter is professionally relevant.
The Texas Board of Professional Land Surveying has approved this program for 8.0 professional education hours.
The Association of Professional Landmen has accredited this event for 8.0 RL, RPL or CPL recertification credits and no CPL/ESA or ethics credits.
Attendance will be monitored and reported, as required. 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
Paul D. Barkhurst
Barkhurst & Hinojosa, P.C.Mr. Barkhurst has extensive litigation experience in business and real estate disputes. He has developed a special concentration in the area of eminent domain, representing governmental entities as well as landowners in numerous lawsuits. He has successfully represented numerous owners in ranch power line takings. Mr. Barkhurst also represents governmental entities in construction disputes, and he has represented contractors and subcontractors in private disputes. Mr. Barkhurst has a B.A. degree, with honors, from Southwest Texas State University and a J.D. degree, magna cum laude, from Texas Tech University, and he is a former USAF Captain and F-111 Aviator.
Aaron Barton
Branscomb PCBranscomb | PC
Mr. Barton is a shareholder in the firm’s Business and Real Estate Groups. He has been practicing law for over a decade, representing businesses, title companies, developers, lenders, and individuals in a wide variety of business, financing, leasing, and real estate transactions. Prior to joining Branscomb | PC, Mr. Barton also represented title insurers and businesses in business and real estate litigation matters. This experience has assisted him in delivering legal services to the firm’s clients with an eye to avoiding litigation, and he is able to structure transactions to better protect clients in the event a dispute arises in the future.
Deward “Karl” Bowles
Independent professional land surveyor and owner of B&B Surveying Company in Houston
Mr. Bowles began working in the field of land surveying in 1978 and is certified as a registered professional land surveyor in the State of Texas. Mr. Bowles has given seminars to lawyers, real estate professionals and other land surveyors on land surveying principles, practice and codified standards. He has been an expert witness in a number of legal actions centering around boundary disputes and land surveyor negligence claims. Mr. Bowles has given expert testimony regarding boundary resolution, minimum standards and minimum content regarding land surveys. He is a member of the Texas Society of Professional Surveyors and a former member of the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping.
C. Howard
Andrews Myers P.C.Andrews Myers P.C., Houston
Ms. Howard is a trial attorney focusing on commercial litigation, real estate disputes and employment law. She has handled evictions, lockouts, title and lien priority disputes, foreclosure on real and personal property, Fair Housing Act violations, enforcement of deed restrictions, ad valorem taxes, easements, adverse possession, boundary disputes, and disputes arising out of the acquisition of real property. Ms. Howard has handled hundreds of landlord/tenant disputes primarily but not exclusively on the landlord’s side. She has represented lenders and loan servicers in matters involving foreclosures and lending practices. Ms. Howard advises individuals seeking to acquire property about their possible liabilities and consults on the closing documents and indemnification agreements. She received her B.A. degree in Economics, Political Science and Managerial Studies from Rice University (TX) and her J.D. degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Houston Law Center.
Russell Johnson
McGinnis LochridgePartner at McGinnis Lochridge
Mr. Johnson has a multifaceted water law practice, with an emphasis on matters involving land use, water rights and the Endangered Species Act (ESA). His clients are generally landowners, industries, mineral owners and developers seeking to acquire, safeguard, develop or convey water resources. Formerly, he represented a large municipal water system in a variety of matters, including legislative efforts to create the Edwards Aquifer Authority and to modernize Texas water law. He is a board member of the Center for Water Law and Policy at Texas Tech University School of Law, as well as an adjunct professor at Texas State University teaching water policy.
Kristina Weber
Foley & Lardner LLPFoley & Lardner LLP, Austin
As a member of the Government Solutions Practice and Austin Litigation Team at Foley & Lardner LLP (formerly Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP), Ms. Silcocks focuses her practice on civil litigation and government-related matters. She primarily focuses on eminent domain and inverse condemnation, representing both condemning authorities and property owners, having represented clients in over 250 Special Commissioners’ Hearings and in over 25 condemnation and inverse condemnation jury trials. Ms. Silcocks also has extensive experience handling civil litigation, including contract, employment, and tort cases. She is well-versed in other government-related issues, including open records laws, contract procurements, bid protests, environmental disputes and other regulatory issues with a variety of state and local agencies. Prior to joining the firm in 2011, Ms. Silcocks spent 15 years in the Office of the Attorney General of Texas primarily representing the Texas Department of Transportation, including the last five years as chief of the Transportation Division.