I own a piece of property with my home on it in North Carolina. There is a lot between mine and the main road, but there is an old dirt road...

Question

I own a piece of property with my home on it in North Carolina. There is a lot between mine and the main road, but there is an old dirt road in between the properties that has been abononed since the early 1970's and not has been maintained its just an old dirt road with the other property in between mine and the dirt road is just a bunch of woods with fallen trees all through it and no one has maintained it for over twenty years. My question is can I use part of the old abononed dirt road as a part of my property by North Carolina law...Thank You

Answer

You would be attempting to take the property by a process known as adverse possession. In this case, you have to publically use the property as yours for 10 years. Then you could legally claim it as yours. To publically use it, you need to build a fence around it, plant a garden, or do whatever it takes to make it clear that the property is claimed as yours.