Waterfront property on a Michigan inland lake is something people work their whole lives toward. Whether it’s a cottage on one of the thousands of inland lakes scattered across southwest Michigan or a year-round home within driving distance of Kalamazoo, owning that shoreline means something. So when a neighbor from a few lots back shows up on your beach, drops a chair in the sand, and starts acting like they own the place… that’s a problem worth understanding.
We get calls about this more often than most people realize. And the legal landscape here is genuinely complex. If you own waterfront property or are thinking about buying some, understanding your Michigan riparian and real estate rights before a dispute starts is far better than scrambling after one has already escalated.
What “Backlotter” Actually Means
A “backlotter” is simply a property owner in a subdivision whose lot does not directly touch the water. Many inland lakes in Michigan have subdivisions with these “backlot” parcels, and those owners sometimes claim rights to use lakefront property or install shared docks. The question of whether those claims hold up legally depends on a lot of things, and the answer is rarely a simple yes or no.
The foundation of this entire area of law is something called riparian rights. Michigan defines riparian rights as “those rights which are associated with the ownership of the bank or shore of an inland lake or stream.” That definition sounds straightforward, but the application in real subdivision disputes gets complicated fast.
Actually, let me back up for a moment. The word “riparian” gets used loosely in Michigan to describe waterfront rights generally. A critical concept tied to these rights is what’s often called the “touching” rule. Generally, to qualify for riparian rights, your property must physically meet the water’s edge. If there’s a road, strip of land, or other separation between your property and the shoreline, you typically do not have riparian rights, even if you have access to the water. That touching rule is at the heart of almost every backlotter dispute we see.
Your Beach Is Not a Public Park
One of the most persistent misconceptions in Michigan water law is that inland lake beaches are somehow open to the public. They are not. On inland lakes, riparian owners usually hold title to the lakebed extending to the center of the lake, or to a defined boundary shared with other owners. As a result, public beach walking on inland lakes is generally considered trespassing unless access is otherwise granted.
This is different from the Great Lakes, where a Michigan Supreme Court ruling established that the public may walk along the shoreline below the ordinary high water mark. That case applies only to Great Lakes shorelines and not to inland lakes. So if you own lakefront property on Gull Lake, Goguac Lake, or any other inland body of water in the Kalamazoo area, someone walking uninvited on your beach may well be trespassing.
The public does retain certain rights on the water itself. In general, members of the public may use the water to fish, swim, and boat. But those rights do not include use of your privately owned shore. Only the owner of the bottomlands, or someone granted such rights by the owner, can utilize dockage, a swim raft, overnight boat mooring, and similar uses on those bottomlands.
When a Backlotter Claims Beach Access Through the Plat
Many older Michigan subdivisions were platted decades ago, sometimes a century ago, with language that dedicated certain strips of land, parks, or walkways for the “use of lot owners.” Backlotters often point to that language and argue it gives them the right to access the waterfront, set up docks, and use the beach. Whether that argument holds up depends entirely on what the original plat actually said, and what courts have determined that language means.
There are likely hundreds, if not thousands, of plats in Michigan where lakefront property is dedicated to the use of backlot owners in the plat. Michigan courts have routinely held that this language does not automatically grant full riparian rights. Access to the water and the right to install a dock are two very different things legally.
To clarify that last point: a backlotter may have a legal right to walk to the water’s edge through a dedicated access strip. But that does not mean they have the right to build a dock, moor a boat overnight, or treat your shoreline as an extension of their property. Properties that do not directly touch the water may still have easements for access. However, these do not automatically grant riparian rights, leading to frequent disputes over dock placement and usage.
The Dock Question Is Often Where Disputes Explode
Backlot owners wanting to swim near the shore is one thing. Backlot owners installing docks and mooring boats is a different category of dispute entirely.
Michigan courts have repeatedly held that riparian owners have exclusive rights to construct and maintain a dock, subject to “reasonableness.” That exclusivity is significant. And when a backlotter attempts to install a dock through a shared access strip, they may be running into multiple legal obstacles at once.
Zoning is one of them. Such use may violate the local municipal zoning ordinance. If the ordinance contains applicable anti-funneling or anti-keyholing lake-access restrictions, the backlotter’s use may violate those provisions. Even if the local municipal zoning ordinance does not contain lake-access regulations, whether use by two or more families is permitted depends on the ordinance’s terms.
And there’s the broader impact on neighboring riparian owners. Such multi-family use could also constitute an unreasonable interference with the riparian rights of adjoining or nearby riparian property owners. Michigan courts take that interference concern seriously, particularly when one shared access strip starts funneling a large number of backlotters to the same small stretch of shoreline.
What This Means If You Are Dealing With This Right Now
We encourage clients to reach out early, before patterns of use become entrenched and before disputes escalate into full litigation. A title search, a review of the original plat language, and an understanding of what local ordinances say about lake access can clarify a lot of questions quickly.
Michigan has thousands of inland lakes, and the communities around them have been dealing with backlotter disputes for generations. The legal framework governing these situations continues to evolve.
If you own waterfront property in Kalamazoo County or the surrounding area, or if you are considering purchasing some, the team at Herbert Machnik Law Firm is here to help you understand where you stand. We handle real estate matters with the kind of careful attention this area of law requires. Reach out to our office and let’s talk through your situation before it becomes a bigger problem than it needs to be.
