A pre-closing survey sometimes turns up a fence, driveway, or shed that crosses the property line. Buyers often assume a small intrusion is a minor issue.
Under Mississippi law, the size of an encroachment does not necessarily reflect the size of the legal problem it creates. Knowing what a survey is designed to show, and what still needs sorting out before closing, can prevent an inherited dispute.
Mississippi’s surveying standards, updated in 2025, require boundary survey plats to identify visible encroachments onto or from adjoining property and to show their extent. A recorded deed states what property a document purports to convey, but it does not show where that boundary actually falls on the ground. That gap is exactly what a survey is meant to close, and it can surface improvements no one realized were misplaced.
For covered residential transactions, Mississippi’s disclosure statute requires sellers to complete a Property Condition Disclosure Statement, which asks whether the seller knows of any encroachments, easements, or boundary disputes. That form reflects only the seller’s own knowledge, though, and does not substitute for the buyer’s own survey or title review.
Long-standing encroachments raise a separate question: adverse possession. Under Miss. Code § 15-1-13, ten years of qualifying possession can shift title, but Mississippi courts have made clear that a fence alone is not enough.
In Double J Farmlands, Inc. v. Paradise Baptist Church, the Mississippi Supreme Court explained that possession must be hostile and obvious enough to put the record owner on notice. In Clanton v. Hathorn, the court upheld a landowner’s right to exclude others even over a small driveway and sewer-line encroachment, rejecting the adverse-possession claim.
The right fix depends on the specifics of your situation. Sometimes it’s a recorded easement, other times an agreed boundary line, a corrected deed description, or new purchase terms altogether. At O’Brien Law Firm, we can look at what your survey turned up and help you figure out the smartest way to handle it before closing day arrives. Give us a call at 662-672-7619, or reach out through our contact form.
Homeowners filing Chapter 13 often assume the mortgage payment listed in their plan stays fixed until the case ends. It usually does not.
Property taxes, insurance premiums, and escrow shortages can raise the amount needed to keep a mortgage current, even while the bankruptcy is still pending. Understanding why that happens, and what a servicer must do to notify you, can help a debtor avoid falling behind without realizing it.
11 U.S.C. § 1322(b)(5) allows a Chapter 13 plan to cure a mortgage default over time while the debtor keeps making the ongoing payment. That provision addresses the old default. It does not lock in the payment amount going forward. Mississippi’s Chapter 13 plan form reflects this by asking whether the mortgage payment includes escrow and whether it will be paid through the plan or directly to the servicer.
Servicers use escrow accounts to pay taxes and insurance on the borrower’s behalf. Under Regulation X, the servicer performs an annual escrow analysis and can collect one-twelfth of the year’s anticipated expenses each month, plus a modest cushion. If a shortage exists, the servicer may spread repayment over at least 12 months or, for smaller shortages, collect it within 30 days. That can create a two-part increase: a higher ongoing escrow amount plus a temporary shortage repayment, even though principal and interest stay the same.
When a qualifying payment changes, Bankruptcy Rule 3002.1 generally requires the mortgage holder to file and serve a Notice of Mortgage Payment Change at least 21 days before the new amount is due. If the numbers are disputed, a debtor or trustee can ask the court to determine the mortgage claim’s status under the rule’s newer procedure.
A payment increase does not necessarily mean the plan failed or the servicer made a mistake. But continuing to pay the old amount after a valid notice can create new arrears outside the original plan. At O’Brien Law Firm, we can review a Notice of Mortgage Payment Change against the servicer’s escrow analysis and help determine whether the Chapter 13 budget or plan needs adjusting. Give us a call at 662-672-7619, or connect with us through our contact form.
A worn driveway leading to a landlocked parcel can look like proof of access, but it is not proof of a legal right to use it. Before closing on Mississippi property surrounded by other land, a buyer needs to know whether a recorded easement exists and, if not, what it would take to get one.
The safest form of access is an express easement recorded in a deed or separate agreement. Mississippi’s recording statutes, Mississippi Code § 89-5-1 and § 89-5-3, protect purchasers who rely on properly recorded instruments while leaving unrecorded conveyances vulnerable to later purchasers without notice.
Without an express easement, access might come from necessity, long-term use, a negotiated agreement, or a statutory private road, but none of these should be assumed just because the property is surrounded by other land.
Mississippi treats each type of access differently. A recorded easement’s own language sets its scope, and courts will not read in rights the document leaves out, as TransMontaigne Operating Co. v. Loresco I, LLC confirms.
Where no easement exists, a buyer might argue for one born of necessity. Word v. U.S. Bank, N.A. requires proof that the two parcels were once one tract, split apart at the moment that the access right arose, not simply that the land sits surrounded today. Long-term use is trickier still.
Ten years of open, hostile, uninterrupted use can create a prescriptive easement, but Mississippi Sand Solutions, LLC v. Otis makes one thing clear: Permission kills the claim, however long it lasted. A landowner with no other option can also petition for a statutory private road, though that carries its own costs and limits.
Order a full title examination and a boundary and easement survey, confirm the easement reaches a public road without gaps, and check separately whether utility lines are covered, since a right to drive across land does not automatically include water, sewer, or power access.
At O’Brien Law Firm, LLC, we help Mississippi buyers review title and easement documentation before the inspection period ends. Call us at 662-672-7619 or reach out through our contact form to review your contract.
Chapter 13 does not freeze a homeowner’s life for three to five years. Selling, refinancing, or otherwise dealing with the house is often possible mid-plan, but it usually cannot happen the way an ordinary transaction would.
This article looks at why bankruptcy-court approval typically comes before closing, what the court and trustee tend to review, and what a Mississippi homeowner should line up before signing anything.
Under Chapter 13, a debtor keeps possession of estate property, but the authority to sell or encumber it is a trustee’s power the debtor exercises under 11 U.S.C. § 1303. Mississippi’s standard Chapter 13 plan and confirmation order keep property in the bankruptcy estate until discharge, rather than returning it to the debtor earlier as 11 U.S.C. § 1327otherwise permits.
In Meza v. Truman, the Fifth Circuit found that debtors who refinanced an exempt home to pay off their plan should have sought court permission first.
A motion to sell under 11 U.S.C. § 363(b) generally requires notice and a hearing opportunity. It should lay out the buyer, price, existing liens, estimated net proceeds, and whether a plan modification is needed.
Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 2002 typically calls for at least 21 days’ notice to creditors, and a sale order is ordinarily stayed 14 days under Rule 6004. A refinance creates new debt and a new lien, so Mississippi’s Local Rule 4002-1(d)(6) requires a motion and proposed order for a consumer debtor.
Mississippi Code § 85-3-21 protects up to $75,000 in qualifying homestead equity, and § 85-3-1(b)(i) can extend that protection to sale proceeds, though the transaction still must be disclosed.
At O’Brien Law Firm, LLC, we help Mississippi Chapter 13 debtors prepare the motion and proposed order the trustee and court will expect, and we work out the timing so a sale or refinance does not put your existing plan at risk. Call us at 662-672-7619 or reach out through our contact form so we can look at your sale or refinance plans before you sign anything.
Deals fall through for all kinds of reasons: financing that doesn’t come together, an inspection that turns up bad news, a title problem, or a closing date that just doesn’t happen. What matters legally isn’t just that the deal collapsed, but why. Mississippi law treats those reasons differently, and understanding the difference can affect who keeps the earnest money and what happens next.
Mississippi’s statute of frauds requires a contract for the sale of land to be in writing and signed, so texts or verbal promises to extend a deadline generally won’t hold up on their own, under Miss. Code § 15-3-1. A missed closing date doesn’t automatically count as a material breach either.
Mississippi courts have said that simply setting a closing date doesn’t make time “of the essence,” and whether a delay mattered often turns on the facts, as explained in Haidar v. Margetta. Option contracts are treated more strictly, since Mississippi courts have held that a late exercise of an option can cause it to expire, per Robinson v. Martel Enterprises.
There’s also seller disclosure. Mississippi requires a written property condition disclosure statement in most residential sales under Miss. Code §§ 89-1-501 through 89-1-527, and a late disclosure can give the buyer a short window to walk away, per Miss. Code § 89-1-503. That said, a disclosure problem doesn’t automatically void the sale on its own.
Earnest money isn’t automatically owned by either party. Mississippi Real Estate Commission rules require the broker to hold it in trust, and if there’s a dispute over entitlement, the broker can ask a court to decide rather than pick a side.
Whether you’re buying or selling, keep a full paper trail, including the signed contract, inspection reports, disclosure forms, and any written notices tied to the delay or termination. Calendar every deadline in the contract, and put concerns in writing as soon as they come up.
If your Mississippi real estate deal is falling apart before closing, O’Brien Law Firm, LLC can help you understand your options. Reach out to us at 662-672-7619 or through our contact form.
