9.41 Creation and Termination

• Library: Real Estate Practice Deskbook (2019 Ed.)

B. (§9.41) Creation and Termination

"Party walls, like other easements, may be created by grant, by covenant, by prescription, implication, etc." 6 Eric Ziegenhorn, Missouri Practice, Legal Forms § 5:1.B (3^rd ed. 2003); State v. Murray, 630 S.W.2d 577, 581 (Mo. banc 1982). Contracts, statutes, or prescriptive easements arising from uses consistent with adverse possession may create party walls. Mandelbaum v. City of Kansas City, 988 S.W.2d 133, 137 (Mo. App. W.D. 1999) ("Party walls typically result from contracts between the adjoining owners, from statutes, or by prescriptive easements arising from uses consistent with adverse possession."); see also 69 C.J.S. Party Walls §§ 5–10 (2018). Party wall agreements should create party walls, and the nature and rights relating to them should depend on the terms of that agreement.

All party wall agreements should, at a minimum, address the parties' obligations as to both the initial cost of the wall and any subsequent repairs and maintenance. It should also state whether it will be binding on heirs and assigns; and, if this is to be...