The undeveloped beach community land had been in his family for two generations. But it wasn’t until Burton Banks tried to sell part of his Ocean View property that he made a troubling discovery.
A neighbor had a goat pen on it and had used other parts of about two-thirds of an acre of his property for decades. When he took her to court, she claimed squatter’s rights.
In February, Banks was forced to transfer the title after a Delaware Superior Court judge ruled that his neighbor, Melissa Schrock, had a claim to the property.
A realtor valued the land Burton Banks lost at $125,000, he said.
How this case evolved should be a warning to property owners on protecting their property from this controversial legal maneuver, Banks says.
How squatter’s rights work in Delaware
In Delaware, squatter’s rights, known in the law as adverse possession, allow people to claim ownership to property that is not technically theirs by occupying it for at least 20 years, according to the Delaware Code.
In a 2015 Delaware adverse possession case, the Court of Chancery awarded 15 acres of property to a man who had, for over 20 years, hunted on land that was not his.
“It can be shocking because most people don’t know about it,” Widener University Law Professor Serena Williams said at the time.
She pointed to a well known Boulder, Colorado, case in which a couple, one a judge and one a lawyer, claimed adverse possession.
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“They understood the doctrine and knew how to use it to gain title to a part of their neighbor’s land,” Williams said. “When a party intentionally tries to adversely possess another’s land, many may find that unfair.”
The case led to a change in Colorado’s adverse possession law, according to Williams.
Why Banks and Schrock went to court
Ralph Banks Sr. owned a handful of lots in the Holly Park subdivision in Ocean View, several of which he left to his son, Burton Banks, according to court documents. He sold an adjacent lot to Schrock’s mother, who later left the property to her daughter, according to court documents.
In 2021, Banks, the owner of the empty lot with his spouse David Barrett, was preparing to sell part of the property bordering Schrock’s land. A surveyor found Shrock and another neighbor had animal enclosures that encroached on the property, according to court documents. One of them eventually removed their enclosure, court documents say.
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Schrock did not, so a few weeks later, Banks filed a complaint to remove her from the property. She filed a counterclaim of her own: adverse possession, of the animal enclosure and land that existed well past it.
“It’s just always been my backyard since I was a little kid,” Schrock said.
How the judge ruled
Banks and Barrett live in Atlanta, Georgia, and “only occasionally” visit the Ocean View property, according to Superior Court Judge Craig Karsnitz. That made it hard for them to prove Schrock had not openly used their land for the past 20 years.
Further complicating matters, during many of the years in question, the properties were owned by now-deceased individuals, Ralph Banks Sr. and Susan Hicks, Schrock’s mother.
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But Karsnitz felt Schrock met the threshold in proving her 20-year occupation and ruled in her favor in February, effectively titling the property to her.
“I can’t afford the appeal,” he said, “But (I’m) hoping I can at least warn others.”
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How to avoid adverse possession claims on your property
If you are unsure of your property’s boundaries, have it surveyed as soon as possible. If there’s any uncertainty over the title, clear it up immediately. If someone is squatting on your property, take legal steps to have them removed.
But the number one thing property owners should do to prevent adverse possession claims is to simply know what is happening there, according to Williams.
“Inspect it regularly,” Williams said. “If you see something you haven’t permitted – a tree you haven’t planted, objects you haven’t placed there − make sure to remove it, because that’s the beginning of adverse possession.”
Shannon Marvel McNaught reports on Sussex County and beyond. Reach her at smcnaught@gannett.com or on Twitter @MarvelMcNaught
