A parcel with no legal way in or out isn't automatically stuck — but the "easement by necessity" that can open it up is narrower than most people think.

QIM 34 | Real Estate Litigation | Law Desk

Ava: Michael, here's a nightmare a lot of rural and hillside buyers don't see coming — they buy a parcel and then realize there is no legal road to it. Every way in crosses a neighbor's land. Are they just stuck?

Michael Benavides, Esq.: Not necessarily. California recognizes an easement by necessity — a right-of-way the law implies so a landlocked parcel isn't rendered useless. But it is not a general "I need access, so I get it" rule. Our Supreme Court in Murphy v. Burch (2009) 46 Cal.4th 157 laid out the core: the claimant must show (1) strict necessity — the parcel is truly landlocked with no legal access — and (2) common ownership, meaning the parcel you own and the parcel you'd cross were once owned by the same person and got split apart in a way that cut off access.

Ava: So it's about history — how the land was divided?

Michael Benavides, Esq.: Exactly. The theory is that when the original owner carved off a piece with no access, the law presumes they intended to reserve a way to reach it. If your parcel and the neighbor's never shared a common owner at the moment access was cut off, an easement by necessity generally won't lie — you'd be looking at other theories. And "strict necessity" means just that: mere inconvenience, a longer route, or a steeper road usually isn't enough. It has to be a genuine lack of legal access.

Ava: Is there a catch for really old parcels?

Michael Benavides, Esq.: There can be. When the common ownership traces all the way back to a federal land grant, Murphy v. Burch adds hurdles — a claimant may also have to show the government intended to reserve an access right and couldn't have condemned one. That's a specialized situation, but it matters in a lot of California mountain and desert parcels with 19th-century roots. Honest caveat: easement-by-necessity cases are fact-intensive and turn on old deeds, subdivision maps, and title history — two parcels that look identical on a map can come out differently based on their paper trail.

Ava: Bottom line for someone who just found out they're landlocked?

Michael Benavides, Esq.: Don't assume you're trapped, and don't assume it's automatic. Pull the chain of title and the subdivision history first — that's where the answer usually lives. Sometimes the cleaner fix is negotiating and recording an express easement with the neighbor rather than litigating necessity for years.

Talk it through with Law Desk. If your parcel has no clear legal access, a California real-estate attorney can trace the title history and map your options. Schedule a consultation with Michael Benavides, Esq.

Disclaimer

Attorney advertising. General information about California real-estate and easement law, not legal advice; reading it creates no attorney-client relationship. Easement questions are highly fact-specific and outcomes vary with the deeds, maps, and title history; statutes and case law change and are applied differently to different facts — confirm the current rules with a licensed California attorney before acting. Michael Benavides, Esq. — California State Bar No. 270714 — is the only licensed attorney and the source of every legal statement here. Ava Benavides is an editorial brand voice, not an attorney, and does not give legal advice in her own name.