SUPREME COURT OF NOVA SCOTIA
Citation: Webster v. Duncanson 2014 NSSC 152
Date: 20140428
Docket: SY. 284509
Registry: Yarmouth
Between:
Marilyn Webster, Dorothy Leon Melanson, Elaine Marie Mahar,
James Phillip Mooney, Joseph Fraser Mooney and Grace Allison Nickerson
Plaintiffs
- and -
Robert K. Duncanson, Neil Duncanson and Michael Hurlburt
Defendants
LIBRARY SHEET
SUBJECT: Real Property - Title - Boundaries - Determination of Boudary
Real Property - Title - Extinguishment - Adverse Possession
SUMMARY: The plaintiffs’ father purchased land from the defendant’s grandfather in 1966. Three of the boundaries of the land conveyed are certain. The fourth boundary contains a latent ambiguity as it is described as bounded by land of Keith Duncanson who did not own property in the area. The defendant disputed the location of the boundary and cut out a road on the disputed area. The plaintiffs seek a declaration as to the location of the boundary line. The defendant seeks a declaration of the location of the boundary line and, in the alternative, claims certain lands by adverse possession.
ISSUES: What is the location of the boundary line between the properties or, in the alternative, did the defendant acquire certain lands by adverse possession.
RESULT: Although Keith Duncanson did not own land in the area, evidence was adduced which established the property to the north of the plaintiffs’ lands were referred to in the community and by the grantor of the 1966 deed as lands of Keith Duncanson. The line as surveyed by the plaintiffs’surveyor is the boundary between the properties. The defendant did make use of the lands which he claimed by adverse possession sufficient to extinguish the plaintiffs’ title. The claim of adverse possession fails. The plaintiffs are entitled to a declaration the boundary between their property and the defendants’ property is as they claimed.