Michigan couple loses property dispute over 50-foot land strip

A Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled against a couple who sought to claim a 50-foot-wide strip of land they contended was wrongly excluded from their property due to a drafting error in a 1965 deed. The dispute centres on whether the contested parcel should have been included in the couple's 2015 tax sale purchase.

The couple argued that previous owners had exercised control over the disputed area for several decades, which they claimed should establish their rightful ownership. They maintained that a clerical mistake in the original deed had improperly separated the land from their larger property holding.

However, two independent surveys commissioned by their neighbour placed the contested strip clearly within the neighbour's legal property boundaries. These survey findings proved decisive in the case.

On October 9, 2026, the Court of Appeals sided with the neighbour, determining that the couple had failed to provide sufficient evidence to establish ownership of the disputed land. The ruling upheld the neighbour's legal claim to the parcel, effectively concluding the protracted property boundary dispute.