Dh & I recently bought 5 acres on a lake, about 45 minutes away, with an old mobile home and a newer, very long dock. We plan on building a home on it in a few years, but for now it's just a great place for go-karting and fishing. It is in a subdivision with a dozen other 5 acre parcels, but some of them don't have lakefront. The seller that we bought from didn't visit the property much in recent years, but we were told by a neighbor who lives there full time (who doesn't have lakefront) that the seller gave them permission to fish and swim from the dock whenever they wanted. we verified that with the seller, and decided to extend that same privelege to them, because they would recognize any vandalism or theft and let us know about it.

DH and the kids went to the property today to hang out, and a couple of hours after they got there, a whole group of little girls (6-8 years old) ran out of the woods and out onto the dock, then back into the woods and continued to run around our property for quite a while. DH recognized the neighbor's daughter among them, so he talked to the parents and told them that their kids could only come onto the property with a parent with them - just because he was afraid of one of the girls getting hurt.

The more we talked about it, the more we realized that there is a big liability issue as well, and we need to get insurance. But at what point does an injury on private property become the owners' responsibility, and what all should we do to protect ourselves without becoming complete scrooges? There is a locked gate at the driveway entrance to keep other people from driving in, but there is no fence to keep people from walking in through the woods, and no one around there has fences. DH went back and put up "no trespassing" signs all along the road, but kids going cross country would never see them. We are going to get liability insurance ASAP, but I would prefer to not ever have anyone get hurt to begin with. What would you do?

Around here, wether or not they have permission to be on your property, even with a signed waiver, you are still responsible. We have a couple on our street who went away on vacation and while they were gone, a child came over and fell off their swing. They sued and won. Lawyer said even if they sign something saying you wouldn't be responsible for injury, they can still get around that.

I would start off posting no tresspassing signs. And definately get some type of insurance.

You have an attractive nuisance, insure it.

Yup - get yourself some good insurance. Maybe even an umbrella policy in case someone went after you for more than just injuries if they got injured. When we had purchased this house, and still owned the other, we bought our first umbrella policy. We didn't want to lose both houses because someone did something stupid, got injured, and then got greedy!

Meischa, is "attractive nuisance" a legal term? What does it mean?

Do you have the type of dock that can be pulled from the water during the Winter? That would take care of a big part of the "attractive nuisance" since there wouldn't be any reason for the girls to be running over there.

The dock is the attraction and the nuisance is the headache it will cause you if someone gets injured on your property, or falls off into the water and drowns. Even if you aren't near the place and they were clearly trespassing. Get more signs posted asap and definitely get that insurance policy in place immediately. Every day that you don't have it, you are risking your financial safety.

I googled "attractive nuisance", and I see excatly what y'all are talking about. It's not the lake or the woods - it's the dock, and probably DH's hammock. We can take down the hammock, but the dock is anchored and cannot be removed. As mild as our winter has been, in fact, the fish are still biting. We decided to consult our attorney to find exactly what coverage we need. I am afraid that he will also tell us to write a letter to the neighbors telling them that they can't come onto the property at all, and I don't want to do that. They have had access to it for years without incident, and I don't want to be a meany. It is a very rural area, and I wish things could be as simple and Mayberry-ish as they look, but it just takes one injury and a lawyer's ad on the back of a phone book to wipe out everything. Thanks for all the advice.

Is there any way you could put a gate on the dock???

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ARBY,

Holy cow! We talked to the attorney, and he told us that the dock is definitely an attractive nuisance, and how much coverage to get. After a dozen calls to different insurance agencies, though, I have only found two companies that MIGHT insure it. It doesn't seem to cost much, it's just next to impossible to find.

Arby, thanks for that suggestion, but I don't think it would work because the lake level fluctuates quite a bit, and there would be times that you could walk across land past the gate, then step up onto the dock. It is a floating dock, and the lake is part of a hydroelectric system, so they are always pumping water back and forth over the dam.

The attorney told us to put no trespassing signs every 20 ft. around the perimeter of the property, and to put a sign up at the dock that says that no one under the age of 16 is allowed on it without an adult, along with a graphic sign that shows a child with a slash over it (I found one online). On one hand, I can't believe we didn't look into all of this before, but on the other, I wonder if we are worrying about nothing. The world didn't used to be like this. When I was a kid, we all broke at least 20 different bones climbing neighbors' trees, walking on their fences, falling off the top of camping trailers, walking on stilts, playing with each other's pogo sticks - and no one ever blamed anyone but the foolish kid! But things have changed.

Things have definitely changed. Please protect yourself. I remember very well how excited you were when you found this property and found out you got it over the other couple.

If you don't want to block the neighbors from the property completely, how about sending letters to the neighbors asking that their children not run unattended on the property; but that they are still welcome to use it as always provided they are accompanied by an adult. Stress the word adult. Some might think a 16 year old babysitter would be sufficient.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Nancy in ME,

Aggie, you and I must have grown up about the same time period, because I LOVED my pogo stick and got pretty good at it. I could hop up and down steps (outside) -- but only two or three before crashing.

Who woulda thunk that steps could be an attractive nuisance!

Our society is so quick to place blame on someone else. People don't take responsibility for their actions (or their stupidity). Blame it on someone else, and then sue the pants off them!

Is there any way to make this a detachable dock so that it can be pulled out?

What is so frustrating to me (we have a pool) is that even if you follow the legal requirement - fence x number of feet tall, gates that lock -- that you can still be sued simply for HAVING a pool - or a dock, or anything else.

Are there other families who have permanent docks? If so, talk with them (maybe you have) about what they do for insurance. The "obvious" thing to do is to not have a dock - ever - which defeats the purpose of lakefront property! (The trespassing signs are a good start. If I got sued for some kid being stupid when they got injured, trespassing on my property, and unsupervised by a parent, I would counter sue. But I am no legal expert as you can tell!)

I agree with you, it is absolutely absurd that someone can sue YOU because of their Trespassing! Everyone that I have known has had some type of liabilty insurance to cover part of a lawsuit, we have a cap of up to 100K, I think, which in all reality wouldn't be much these days. I better check our insurance.

We had a much larger umbrella policy than your $100K policy because we figured we needed to not only cover the cost of 2 houses (one we wanted, one we didn't) but the contents and any other assets we might have in savings. It is worth it for peace of mind. Let's hope we never have to tap into that policy!