Easement & Right-of-Way Dispute Attorneys in Northern Virginia
Protect Your Right of Way
A blocked driveway, a landlocked parcel, or a neighbor pushing past the limits of an easement can cut off access and value. We enforce and defend easements and rights of way across Northern Virginia.
✓ Access Protected
✓ Leesburg & Fairfax
✓ Enforce or Defend
Access Is a Legal Right, Not a Favor
What Virginia Law Says About Easements
20 Years
Of open, continuous use to establish a right of way by prescription in Virginia
4 Ways
Easements are created in Virginia: express grant, implication, estoppel, and prescription
2 Estates
Dominant and servient, each with rights the law protects and limits it enforces
Sources: Causey v. Lanigan, 208 Va. 587 (1968) (prescriptive right of way, 20 years); Beach v. Turim, 287 Va. 223 (2014) (methods of creation); Code of Virginia § 55.1-306 (rights of dominant and servient estates).
An easement is a legal interest in land. Once it exists, the owner of the burdened property cannot simply take it away, and the holder cannot stretch it beyond its purpose. Most disputes live in that tension, and that is where we work.
When Access Is on the Line
An easement gives one property the right to use part of another, most often for access. The parcel that benefits is the dominant estate, and the parcel that is crossed is the servient estate. The right is real and enforceable, but it is also bounded. The holder cannot overburden it, and the owner cannot block it or unreasonably interfere with it.
We handle both sides. If your access has been fenced off, gated, or paved over, we move to restore it, by injunction if needed. If a neighbor is using your land beyond what an easement allows, we push back on the scope. When an easement was never written down, we pursue or defend a claim by prescription, and we resolve the boundary questions that so often come with it on our boundary and encroachment page.
Schedule a ConsultationWhere We Come In
- ✓ A neighbor blocked, gated, or paved over your right of way
- ✓ Your parcel is landlocked and you need legal access to a road
- ✓ Someone is using your land far beyond what the easement allows
- ✓ A shared driveway has become a source of ongoing conflict
- ✓ A utility or drainage easement is interfering with your plans
- ✓ You need an easement drafted, relocated, or removed from title
What We Handle
Easement Matters We Handle
From a blocked driveway to a landlocked tract, we protect the right to get to and use your property.
Blocked or Obstructed Access
Fences, gates, vehicles, or landscaping that cut off a right of way. We seek removal and an order protecting your continued use.
Landlocked Property
When a parcel has no road access, we pursue an easement by necessity across the land it was once joined with.
Scope & Overburdening
Disputes over how much use an easement allows, from added traffic to new construction that stretches it past its purpose.
Shared Driveways
Common driveways that turn contentious over use, upkeep, and who may do what. We settle the rights and the responsibilities.
Utility & Drainage Easements
Recorded easements for utilities, drainage, or access that limit your use of the land or complicate a build or a sale.
Drafting, Relocation & Removal
Creating a clear easement, relocating one by agreement or petition, or clearing an outdated easement from your title.
The balance the law strikes
Under Virginia law, the holder of an easement may not use it in a way that goes beyond what the grant contemplated, and the owner of the burdened land may not place objects or activity that unreasonably interfere with the easement. An unreasonable obstruction can be treated as a private nuisance, which opens the door to an injunction ordering it removed. That balance, protecting real use on one side and real ownership on the other, is the heart of nearly every easement fight.
Attorney Insight
“Access disputes get personal fast, because they are about getting home. The good news is that an easement is a property right, and property rights are enforceable. When a client tells me a neighbor gated off the road they have used for years, my first question is where that right came from, the deed, long use, or the way the parcels were split. Once we answer that, the path to reopening the access usually follows.”
Anthony I. Shin, Esq.
Founder, Shin Law Office
Common Questions
Answers Before You Call
What is an easement?
It is a legal right to use part of someone else’s land for a defined purpose, usually access. The property that benefits is the dominant estate and the property that is crossed is the servient estate. The right runs with the land in most cases, so it survives a sale.
My neighbor blocked my right of way. What can I do?
If you hold a valid easement, an owner who blocks it may be creating a private nuisance. Courts can order the obstruction removed and bar future interference. The first step is to confirm the source and scope of your right, then send a demand or file suit to restore access.
My property is landlocked. Can I get access?
Often yes. If your parcel and a neighboring one were once under common ownership and yours became landlocked when they were split, Virginia law can recognize an easement by necessity across the other parcel. The analysis looks at the history of the parcels and whether any other access exists.
How is a right of way created in Virginia?
Four main ways: an express grant or reservation in a deed, implication from how the parcels were once used or split, estoppel based on reasonable reliance, and prescription from open, continuous use for twenty years. The right theory depends entirely on the facts and the records.
Can the owner put a gate across my easement?
Sometimes, within limits. Virginia law allows a servient owner to place a gate across a right of way where there are fences on either side of the gate, but a freestanding gate that impedes your use can be ordered removed. Whether a specific gate is allowed depends on the facts, so it is worth a review.
Related Real Estate Services
Reopen the Access You Are Owed
If your right of way is blocked, your parcel is landlocked, or a neighbor is stretching an easement past its limits, tell us what is happening. Serving Leesburg, Fairfax, and all of Northern Virginia.
Prefer to talk now? Reach Anthony I. Shin, Esq. at 571-445-6565.
Based in Loudoun County and serving clients across Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland, we know that when everything’s on the line, the right attorney doesn’t just make a difference, they determine the outcome.
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Copyright © 2026 Shin Law Office, PLC. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2026 Shin Law Office, PLC. All rights reserved.
Reproduction of any content on this site is prohibited except for individual, non-commercial, informational use. This limited permission does not allow modification, distribution, or incorporation of any content into other works or publications in any medium. You may not reproduce or distribute content from this site to any third party.