Home : Legal Dictionary : Adverse Possession

Legal Dictionary - Adverse Possession

Adverse possession is a doctrine under which a person in possession of land owned by someone else may acquire valid title to it, so long as certain common law requirements are met, and the adverse possessor is in possession for a sufficient period of time, defined by a statute of limitations.

The common law requirements

The common law requirements have evolved over time, and the articulation of those requirements varies somewhat from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Typically, adverse possession, in order to ripen into title, must be:

(1) Continuous, or so the decisions typically say. What they mean to say is that possession must be continual.

(2) Hostile to the interests of the true owner; this is the adverse part of adverse possession.

(3) Open and notorious, so as to put the true owner on notice that a trespasser is in possession.

(4) Actual, so that the true owner has a cause of action for trespass, on which the true owner must act within the statute of limitations.

(5) Exclusive, in order that there be no confusion as to who acquires title once the time has run.

The statute of limitations

A typical statute will require possession for 7 years, if under color of title, or 20 years, if not.

A mnemonic may help remember the decisional and statutory elements of adverse possession; think of it as inchoate ownership which becomes choaTe (i.e. continuous, hostile, open, actual, for the requisite period of Time, and exclusive), the decisional pieces indicated in lowercase, the statutory in upper.

Retrieved from "http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/index.php/Adverse_Possession". Content is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

Need A Civil Rights Claims Attorney?

First Name Last Name Email Address State

Legal Issue

Civil Rights Claims Click to select a Legal Issue

Were your civil rights violated?

Please describe the circumstances

close this window

Civil Rights Claims Information

Click to View Our Legal Resources

Do you need a Civil Rights Claims lawyer in Washington, DC? Contact one of our Civil Rights Claims lawyers in Washington, DC now.

LegalView.info is sponsored by law firms with offices in many states. This website contains information created by others or supplied through open forums; the sponsoring law firms are not responsible for the accuracy of this information. Your access to this site does not constitute a legal attorney-client relationship. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements. To access important information concerning the sponsors and their commitment to the ethical practice of law, click here.

The participating law firms are as follows: Anapol Schwartz (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Cherry Hill, New Jersey; Media, Pennsylvania; Reading, Pennsylvania; Wheeling, WV). Cohen, Placitella & Roth (Red Bank, New Jersey; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). J. F. Humphreys (Charleston, West Virginia). Lopez McHugh (Newport Beach, California; Philadelphia, PA; and Moorestown, NJ). Click here for more information about these law firms.

Some of our partner firms do not accept some types of cases. For details on these case exceptions, click here.

20120517-133357

Close (x)

Looking for an Attorney?

Please type your question:

First Name:
Last Name:
E-mail:
Phone Number *
() -

State * Legal Issue *

Civil Rights Claims Click to select a Legal Issue

Close (x)

Find Legal Help for Your Civil Rights Claims Case - Submit Your Information Below

Do you need legal assistance with your Civil Rights Claims case?
LegalView may be able to help.

Submit your information below for a free, no-cost evaluation.

We'll submit your information to one of our partner firms.
LegalView's partners represent clients throughout the United States, for a very wide range of legal issues. Submit your information now, to see if one of LegalView's partners can help!

* Indicates Required Fields

First name *

Last name *

Email Address *

Phone Number *
() -

State *

Legal Issue * Civil Rights Claims Change

Was There an Injury?

Please Describe The Injury

Please State Your Question *

DISCLAIMER and STATEMENT OF NON-CONFIDENTIALITY

By submitting this form, you agree that completing the above is not intended to create an attorney-client relationship.

Disclosure

Legal WebTV Network LLC, LegalView.com, and LegalWebMedia.com are group advertising sponsored by the attorneys identified here. It is not a lawyer referral service. If you submit information on this website, LegalWebMedia.com will submit your information to the law firms that pay for this group advertising and to respond to your requests for information concerning legal services in their assigned local areas. If there is no sponsoring firm in your state, your inquiry will be submitted to one of the sponsoring law firms on a predetermined, rotating basis. If the sponsoring law firm accepts your case, it will associate with licensed attorneys practicing in your state, if required; the sponsoring law firm may also contact other law firms to see if they may be able to assist.

The information provided by the LegalView.com and LegalWebMedia.com websites is for advertising and informational purposes and should not be considered as legal advice from the sponsoring attorneys. The websites contain general information and may not reflect current legal developments, verdicts, or settlements. LegalView.com contains information created by others or supplied through open forums; the sponsoring law firms are not responsible for the accuracy of this information. Any person viewing or receiving information from these websites should not act or refrain from acting on the basis of any such information without first seeking appropriate legal advice from an attorney in your area. Legal WebTV Network, LLC expressly disclaims any liability with respect to actions taken or not taken by the recipient based on any or all of the information or contents contained in these websites.

Any information sent to Legal WebTV Network LLC through this website is done using standard Web encryption techology. LegalView.com will exercise all reasonable care, within technological limits, to protect the confidentiality of any information submitted via Internet e-mail or through this website. By accessing this website, you may be seeking an attorney to represent you or legal advice. However, none of the sponsoring attorneys represent you yet.

The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements.

Any transmission of information, whether via Internet e-mail or through the website, is solely for evaluation purposes by the sponsoring law firms and their associates. The transmission of any information to any attorney sponsoring advertising on LegalView.com or LegalWebMedia.com does not create an attorney-client relationship between the sender and any recipient. An attorney-client relationship can only be created by a written, signed-fee agreement entered into with an attorney. The sponsoring attorneys will treat your information as a confidential communication for the purpose of obtaining legal services or legal advice.

For more information about the sponsoring law firms, please click here.

This form is secure and encrypted. More information about secure forms and your privacy here.