Boundary disputes are among the most common real property claims and are rarely resolved by the deed alone.
Survey first. A boundary survey by a licensed surveyor, tied to the record description and to monuments, is the foundation. Conflicting surveys are common, and the reasons — different monuments accepted, different treatment of ambiguous calls — are usually explicable.
Priority of calls. Where a description is internally inconsistent, courts apply a hierarchy: natural monuments, then artificial monuments, then courses and distances, then area. This is why a fence built to an old iron pipe may prevail over the recited dimensions.
Acquiescence. Where adjoining owners have treated a line as the boundary for the statutory period, many states will fix it there regardless of the record line, without requiring the elements of adverse possession.
Practical location and estoppel. An agreement to fix an uncertain boundary, or reliance on a representation, can bind.
Adverse possession and prescriptive easements apply where possession or use has been open, continuous and hostile for the period.
Remedies. Quiet title to establish the line, ejectment, injunction to remove an encroachment, or damages. Courts may decline to order removal where the encroachment is innocent and minor and removal would be grossly disproportionate.
Prevention. A survey at purchase, and written permission for any encroachment noticed.