I have a shared drive with my next door neighbour who is an 83 year old lady. The drive leads to two garages which neither of us use. This lady is very protective of her side of the drive and keeps posting "Do Not Tresspass" signs and telling us not to walk or stand on her side of the drive. I have checked our deeds and it clearly states that this is a shared drive. We have been neighbours for eight years and we only just started seeing this bahviour from her in the last eight months since she sold her car to a young man who has been visiting two to three times a week since. Since this young man started visiting, this elderly neighbour has turned away from all her neighbours who she has known for more than 30 years and who have always been friendly and helpful to her. We feel that this young man is causing the problems by turning her against her neighbours. As neither of us are using the garages, is there a way to separate the drive and place a fence. What do we need to do? This young man a already been abusive and aggressive towards us, but we did not envolve the police because we don't want to upset our neighbour because of her age. We are not sure if this young man is genuine and is honestly being helpful and we don't know how and if we can check his backgound for any criminal records or abuse towards old people. We are more concerned about the well being and safety of this old neighbour and may a victim od a con man. Please advise us on what we can do to help and protect this elderly neighbour. Even if consider the we should not get involved, please let us know. Thank you.

Had a similar situation many years ago.

If u have problems with the young man, call the cops.

The old lady will fair fine. Until he does something that she can see is not for her well being, she will not believe u or anyone else that he is not her best friend.

Be pleasant to her and show her u are there if she needs u. Invite her to dinner or BBQ. She may/will refuse to associate with u. Don't push it. An invite about every 2 or 3 weeks would be a good time spread.

When u see her say good morning and ask how she is doing. This will help to show her u care.

Check with local senior center and see if they can give a recommendation on how to proceed.

If she has any relatives, approach and state your concerns.
They may be able to help.

It took a very small act for my friend to discover she was being used. The process is called "spending down". In that process, she will be moved into nursing home and, if the young man is working that scam, sign power of attorney over to him.

Wish u luck

Chuck

Is there a legal question here?

Yes, he wants to know if he can put a fence up dividing the shared drive

No, you can not since the deeds will both show this as a shared drive, you both have use of it. And esp not if dividing it would stop future use to get to your or her garage, you may not use it today but a buyer of either home may.

Deal with the real issue, the man coming next door, call police if calling the police is needed.

We have a shared driveway that dips slightly to the neighbors due to the slope of the land. At the end of the driveways is a double garage not big enough for either one of our cars and on either side of that are two patios, one on the neighbors side and one on our side divided by the garage. Both of us split the cost of blacktop for the driveway. Recently the neighbor has laid some pavers up near the garage between the two spaces because he believes water from rain will ruin his patio. This is creating a puddle in front of our garage area and a depression in the space in front of it. Can he do this? Neither he nor his wife are approachable in an otherwise very friendlt neighborhood. Our luck!