The neighbor's fence is 11 feet onto my lot, and I have two very different quotes

$12k to $20k against a tenth of an acre worth $1,200 only makes sense if the split is worth real money and the objection would actually block it. Do you know that it would? I'd ask a title officer at the company you'd likely use for the split whether a recorded boundary line agreement clears it for them. If yes, attorney A's path gets you there for a fraction.

The two quotes are answering different questions, and which one is right turns on how your state's adverse possession and prescriptive easement law treats what the neighbor has been doing, which is a question only an attorney licensed there can answer on your facts.

The mechanics worth understanding before that conversation. Adverse possession generally requires possession that is open, hostile to the owner's rights, and continuous for a statutory period, and the period ranges widely by state, commonly somewhere between 5 and 20 years, with some states adding a requirement that the possessor paid taxes on the strip. A grazing fence maintained since 2009 is the fact pattern these cases are built on, so the calendar matters. Attorney B's concern about time is real in states with shorter periods. A separate and weaker claim is a prescriptive easement, which would give him a right to use the strip without giving him ownership.

On your title policy, a standard survey exception typically excludes matters a survey would disclose, including encroachments, so the policy often gives you nothing here. Some policies were issued with the exception deleted or with an endorsement. Send the underwriter a written tender with the survey attached and get the denial or the coverage in writing before you spend litigation money.

On the split, ask whoever would insure the future sale what they need to see. A recorded boundary line agreement signed by both owners, with a new legal description, is a common cure and it is cheap compared to litigation. That is the outcome attorney A is trying to buy you. Whether a letter meaningfully helps the neighbor's clock depends on your state's rules, so ask both attorneys that question directly and compare the answers.

I'd add that the document you want at the end of either path is the same document, a recorded agreement with a surveyed description attached and both spouses signing if your state requires it for a conveyance of an interest in land. Ask attorney A what he intends to record and who he expects to sign. If the answer is vague, the $850 buys you a letter and not a cure.

Also get the surveyor to stake and photograph the line now, dated. Whatever happens in three years, the record of where the line was in this month is worth having.