My Property Is Landlocked — How Do I Get Access? (Missouri)

In most cases you have three options: an easement by necessity, an easement by prior (implied) use, or Missouri's statutory private road of necessity under Chapter 228. The first two are common-law doctrines that turn on how your parcel was split off from a larger tract. The third is a statutory remedy you can petition a court for even when the common-law routes don't apply. This guide walks you through confirming you're truly landlocked, then choosing the calmest path to a recorded, durable right of access.

First, confirm you're actually landlocked

Before you do anything else, make sure you have no legal access — not just no convenient one. A muddy two-track you've always used may not be a legal right at all, and an existing recorded easement you forgot about may already solve your problem.

• Pull your deed and chain of title. Read the legal description in your recorded deed and look for any easement language. Order a title search to see whether a right-of-way was already granted to your parcel and recorded.
• Get a current survey. Hire a licensed Missouri land surveyor to locate your parcel on the ground, identify abutting parcels, and show whether any recorded easement actually reaches a public road.
• Distinguish "inconvenient" from "no legal access." Missouri's strict-necessity remedies are for parcels with no legally enforceable outlet — not for owners who simply want a shorter or nicer route than the one they already have a right to use.

If the survey and title search confirm there is genuinely no legal way in, you've cleared the threshold question and can move to securing access.

Path 1: Easement by necessity

An easement by necessity is the classic remedy for a parcel that became landlocked when a larger tract was divided. The law presumes that when an owner carves off a back lot with no road frontage, the parties must have intended a way in — otherwise the sale makes no sense.

• Unity of title. You generally must show your parcel and the neighboring parcel you'd cross were once under common ownership, then split apart. This shared origin is the foundation of the claim.
• Necessity at severance. The landlocked condition — and the need for access — must have existed at the moment the parcels were separated, not arisen later.
• Strict necessity. Missouri treats this as a remedy of strict necessity: there must be no other practical legal outlet. If you can reach a public road another lawful way, the easement by necessity usually fails.

Because this easement exists only to cure the landlock, it generally ends if the necessity ends — for example, if you later acquire other legal access. It runs across the parcel that was severed off, not across just any convenient neighbor.

Path 2: Easement by prior (implied) use

A close cousin is the easement by implied (prior) use. Instead of resting on pure necessity, it rests on a use that was already happening when the parcels split.

• A pre-existing use. Before the tract was divided, a route — say, a driveway or farm lane serving the part that became your parcel — was already in use.
• Apparent and continuous. That use must have been apparent (visible or discoverable) and continuous, not occasional, at the time of severance.
• Reasonably necessary. The use must have been reasonably necessary to the enjoyment of your parcel when it was carved out.

The practical difference: an implied-use easement can succeed on a lesser showing of necessity than a true easement by necessity, if you can prove that established, visible prior use. Like the necessity easement, it depends entirely on the history of the original division — so the deeds and the lay of the land at severance are everything.

Path 3: Missouri's statutory private road of necessity (Chapter 228)

When the common-law easements don't fit — most commonly because your parcel and your neighbor's were never under common ownership — Missouri gives you a statutory fallback. Under Chapter 228, a landlocked owner can petition a court to establish a private road of necessity across neighboring land to reach a public road. The key provision is RSMo § 228.340.

• It's a court-supervised petition. You file showing your parcel has no legally enforceable access to a public road and that the road is a way of strict necessity, not merely a convenience.
• The court fixes the route. If necessity is shown, the court selects a route that imposes the least practical burden on the neighbor's land.
• You pay damages. Unlike the common-law easements, the statutory private road is not free — you must pay damages to the burdened owner before the road is established. This is the trade-off for forcing a route across land that was never legally tied to yours.

Distinguish this from the common-law doctrines: an easement by necessity or prior use arises from a shared origin and generally requires no payment, while the statutory private road is available even without common ownership but comes at the price of court-ordered damages.

Negotiate an express easement first

Before you litigate anything, try the simplest route: ask. A neighbor may be perfectly willing to grant you a recorded right-of-way, especially if you offer fair value and a clearly limited use.

• Propose a written, recorded express easement. Define the route, width, and permitted use, tie it to the survey, and address maintenance. A recorded express easement is the clearest, most durable form of access and binds future owners of both parcels.
• Lead with the survey. A professional plat shows exactly what you're asking for and takes the guesswork out of the conversation.
• Keep the statutory petition in reserve. If negotiation stalls, a quiet-title or declaratory-judgment action — or the Chapter 228 private-road petition — remains your fallback. Often, simply having that option encourages a neighbor to settle on reasonable terms.

A negotiated, recorded easement preserves the relationship and skips the cost and delay of a lawsuit. Reserve the court remedies for when goodwill runs out.

Frequently Asked Questions