Kansas court rejects neighbours' claim to 5.13 acres behind 65-year-old fence

A 65-year-old fence has become the centre of a property dispute between neighbouring landowners in Kansas, USA, after a court was asked to decide whether the old fence or the surveyed property line determined ownership of approximately 5.13 acres of land. The Kansas Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s ruling that the legal boundary described in the property deeds took precedence over the irregular fence, rejecting the neighbours’ claim that they had acquired the disputed land through long-term possession. The ruling, filed on 28 August 2026, followed a dispute over a fence originally built away from the boundary because of difficult terrain and the labour-intensive construction methods available at the time.Why did neighbours fight over an old fenceAccording to the Kansas Court of Appeals, the dispute concerned neighbouring properties in Sections 23 and 24, Township 30 South, Range 13 West, in Barber County, Kansas.