Many of us have observed employees of an electric utility trimming trees away from overhead electric lines. You may have even thought, “what gives the utility company the right to trim the trees?” The simple answer is that the utility has an easement to do so.

An easement is an interest in land, but not an ownership interest in the land. An easement grants someone else the right to use your real estate. The easement will be for either a general or a particular purpose. Some common easements include those for water, sewer, electric and driveway purposes.

Written Easement

Most easements are created by a written document that is recorded with the recorder of deeds for the county in which the property is located. Others are created by court action, including an easement of necessity or an easement by prescriptive use.

Regardless of how it is created, an easement always has a servient tenement and a dominant tenement. A servient tenement is the person whose land is being used for the easement. The dominant tenement is the individual, neighbor, utility or other business granted the easement.

Easement of Necessity

An easement of necessity occurs where property is landlocked without means for ingress or egress to a public road. Missouri law provides two legal options to owners of real estate with no means of ingress or egress. Option (1) is the creation of an easement pursuant to Section 228.340 RSMo. Option (2) is the creation of an easement by necessity. Under option (1), a property owner must prove that he owns the land, no public road goes through or alongside the land, and the private road the property owner is seeking is a way of strict necessity. Under option (2), a property owner must prove that both the servient and dominant tenements have a common source of title and a subsequent deprivation of access to a public road. In both instances, the property owner seeking the easement must show the Court proof of strict or absolute necessity.

Easement by Prescription

To establish an easement by prescription, you must show use of someone else’s property that has been continuous, uninterrupted, visible and adverse for ten years or longer. Each of these elements are fact intensive and you will need an experienced real estate lawyer to help you in court.

Use of an Easement

Usually, an written document will specify the purpose of the easement, such as installation of waterline or for a driveway. However, sometimes an easement omits the purpose, or the parties are arguing over an expanded or changed use, or interference with the use of an easement. What is the “reasonable” use of an easement is again a fact intensive matter. You should discuss the facts of your dispute with your attorney.

The attorneys at Kennedy, Kennedy, Robbins & Yarbro, LC, can help you with easement issues. Often, these issues arise after the recent purchase of real property, either by you or a neighbor. Please contact us or call us at (573)686-2459 to discuss your real estate or rural utilities questions.