Brettski I generally stay out of this type of thread . I did give my thoughts at the first of this thread. The thread that Lance provided is a gem of a job of butchering the facts and law on the situation in Miss. On private man made lakes all shore line owners can use "their" portion of the lake but not the neighbors part. They cite the wrong case and provide faulty links. Please don't rely on legal advice off the net as it could really cost you.

The law is different from state to state and there are many other factors like the intent of the parties , the passage of time , and the reliance of one party on the promises of the other and who paid what for what and others. Water law is a vast and complex area of the law. The best that can be said is contact a natural resources attorney in your state. However all states other than La. are common law states (La. is a civil law state with similar concepts) and in them all private property rights have common law protections against trespass which is what you do if you back water up on someone else's land. This concept of strict liability for causing water to go on others land started with a famous English case of Ryland vs. Fletcher. \:\) \:D