Well easement: relatives dispute cost of repairs

On Sep 6, 7:24 am, JH...@excite.com wrote:
[cheapskate nephew reneged on verbal agreement to split cost of pump repairs for shared water from drilled well for which OP owns an easement on OP's brother's adjacent land]

> I want to teach him a life lesson and shut off the water.No pay-No
> play!!!!

If you decide to do that, do it in a calm, reasonable way as an adult.  That would be the proper life lesson to teach.   Don't, under any circumstances, do the sort of things that angry people do when they say they are "teaching someone a lesson" or you will live to regret it deeply.  Don't turn this into a huffy "I'm going to take my ball and go home if we don't do it my way" playground tiff.

> If I do this it opens up a 18 year old argument from my wifes
> brother( that I am really sick of hearing) that the water sits on his
> land.

His land, yes, but your easement.   You own all the rights to the well.  Why is that difficult for everyone to understand?

> Because this was done 100% legal there is nothing he can do
> about it.

Wrong.  There's plenty he can do about it.  He's your neighbor, he's your brother, he knows which of your buttons he can push, and he can make your life miserable.  Do you want that?  Even if the legal system won't get involved, life is much happier if relatives can all play fair.  What you do is work out the differences, perhaps by using pressure of the legal system to get them to agree in writing to an amendment to the easement (if you want that), but not just by shutting off his water without fair warning.

> Is my thinking correct? Any other advice on how to resolve this issue?

You need to recognize that part of the problem is your history of basing your water-sharing on a purely oral agreement.  If you want to teach nephew that words and commitments are enforceable and mean something, you should have put it in writing at the beginning.   It's not too late to do so now as a condition to his continued use of your well water.

IMO you need to get your lawyer involved in this again, have him write a letter to the nephew demanding payment, stating the reasons, and have him advise you on whether it is a good idea or not (from the point of view of your best interests) to try to get nephew to sign a written agreement and/or to amend the easement to add the nephew (along with a legal obligation to share the cost).

Intrafamily disputes are always tricky, so try your best to be the "adult" here, stay calm and be reasonable while not backing down on your rights.  There is a big important difference between being a calm, immovable rock, properly assertive of your rights, and being an improperly aggressive jerk.  Good luck,

--
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Mike Jacobs
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