Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick signed the final decree on Friday, awarding Joseph and Danielle Murray ownership of the disputed strip of land along Pinedale Road in Newark. The ruling resolves a multi-year standoff with neighbors Rade and Zeljka Preradovic, who had demanded $30,000 or the immediate removal of a fence that crossed their property line by nine feet.
The legal battle began in December 2022 when the Preradovics purchased the adjacent home. A pre-sale survey revealed the wooden fence separating the two properties sat heavily on their side of the legal boundary. The new owners presented the Murrays with three options: buy the land for $30,000, move the fence, or tear it down. The Murrays, who have lived there since 1998, refused. They argued the fence had stood in that position for over 20 years and that they had treated the space as their own throughout that period.
Negotiations stalled quickly. The Preradovics lowered their price to $10,000 by March 2023 and even offered to rent the land for $1,500 annually, but no deal emerged. In June 2023, the Murrays filed suit in the Delaware Court of Chancery, seeking legal recognition of their rights under the doctrine of adverse possession. This legal principle allows a person to claim ownership of land by using it continuously, openly, and without permission for a statutory period.
The case turned on the physical reality of the backyard. Danielle Murray maintained flower beds, while Joseph cut the grass and trimmed trees. They replaced fence sections in 2007 and again in 2022, further cementing their claim. However, a lower court initially ruled against them for the raised garden planter and a narrow grass strip near the sidewalk, arguing that maintenance alone did not prove ownership of those specific areas.
Chancellor McCormick overturned that partial decision after a physical inspection of the properties in August. She observed that the open planter was physically connected to the retaining wall inside the fence and shared the same drainage system. In her view, the landscaping formed a single, unified area that the Murrays had controlled for decades. The ruling grants them title to the entire disputed strip, including the planter.
The Preradovics face a final binding order. With the court’s decision, they must accept the Murrays’ title to the nine-foot encroachment. No further appeal is likely given the factual findings of the Chancery Court, leaving the neighbors with a permanently altered property line.