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Clair County, Missouri, in 2023, intending to build a family home there. The couple petitioned the circuit court to establish a private road under Missouri law, specifically Sections 228.340 to 228.358 of the Revised Statutes. Following a bench trial on August 21, 2024, the court found that their property lacked public road access and that the requested route was strictly necessary. On September 16, 2024, the court approved a private road 40 feet wide across part of Roeder’s existing road. The designated section measured approximately 428.24 feet long and covered about 0.39 acre, or 17,130 square feet. The court reconsidered the issue and, on October 25, 2024, amended its interlocutory judgment. Court-appointed commissioners assessed the damages at $3,750 for the easement, pipe-rail fence and gate. However, in its final judgment on March 10, 2025, the circuit court returned to its original position, awarding the couple fee-simple ownership of the designated strip while allowing Roeder to retain certain rights of use.
The amended ruling therefore granted the couple a non-exclusive right of ingress and egress over the road. Bowen and his wife purchased a tract of landlocked real estate in St. Their property had no public road running through it or directly alongside it, leaving them without the necessary vehicle access. Dylan Roeder owned the adjoining tract immediately south of their land. A road on his property ran from the southeast corner of the couple’s property to a public road, making it a potential access route. The circuit court initially ruled that the couple would own the land designated for the private road, while Roeder would retain certain rights to use it. Roeder challenged this decision, arguing that the couple should receive an easement allowing access rather than ownership of the underlying property. It agreed that the statute was intended to provide access while limiting damage and inconvenience to the neighbouring landowner. The initial order also addressed responsibility for construction, maintenance and repairs, including the possibility of sharing those costs if Roeder retained rights to use the road.
On August 26, 2026, the Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District, reversed a ruling that would have transferred ownership of the road to the couple, Clint Bowen and Morgan Bowen. Because their property had no public road access, roeder, the couple qualified for a private road.
Published by Justia in Bowen v, according to the court’s opinion. A Missouri couple who bought land without road access secured a legal route through their neighbour’s property, but a dispute over who would own that road led to an appeal. However, the law entitled them to a permanent easement, not ownership of the land beneath the road.