Colorado Judge Uses Law To Legally "Swipe" Neighbors' Land

In Boulder, Colorado, The Denver Post reports:

• Despite the surprise and outrage about a former Boulder County judge taking a neighbor's land through court maneuvers, there's nothing new about adverse possession — or even judges employing the law to net real estate.

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• "It's stealing with a law license instead of a gun," said Will Campbell, a Boulder resident and supporter of Susie and Don Kirlin. Former Boulder Judge Richard McLean and his wife, lawyer Edith Stevens, won one- third of the Kirlins' vacant land in south Boulder by using the law. McLean and Stevens argued that they had used part of the 4,700-square-foot lot to reach the garden and deck of their home virtually every day for 25 years. The Kirlins bought the land in 1984 and planned to build a retirement home there.

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• State Rep. Rob Witwer, R-Evergreen, and Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, are studying possible legislation to raise the bar to prove adverse possession. [...] "If you trespass for 18 minutes, you can be arrested," [Witwer] said. "If you knowingly trespass for 18 years, you can get the land for free. The law should not allow that to happen."

The article states that at least two other judges have also successfully pulled off similar legal maneuvers in years past. For more, see Land-seizure cases no rarity.

Go here for other posts on using the adverse possession legal mechanism to acquire title to property without having to pay for it. adverse possession alpha