Editing Adverse possession (section)

==United States==
[[File:Adverse possession US.pdf|thumb|400px|The number of years required for adverse possession in U.S. states]]

===Requirements===
The party seeking title by adverse possession may be called the ''[[disseisor]]'', meaning one who dispossesses the true owner of the property.<ref name="larson">{{cite web |title=Adverse possession |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/adverse-possession |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=29 September 2017}}</ref> Although the elements of an adverse possession claim may be different in a number of states, adverse possession requires at a minimum five basic conditions being met to perfect the title of the disseisor. These are that the disseisor must openly occupy the property exclusively, in a manner that is open and notorious, continuously, and use it as if it were their own in a manner expected for the type of property.<ref>{{cite web |last=Larson |first=Aaron |title=Adverse Possession |url=https://www.expertlaw.com/library/real_estate/adverse_possession.html |access-date=29 September 2017 |date=17 January 2015}}</ref> Some states impose additional requirements. Many of the states have enacted statutes regulating the rules of adverse possession.<ref name="ALTA">{{cite web |title=Analyzing Adverse Possession Laws and Cases of the States East of the Mississippi River |url=https://www.alta.org/news/news.cfm?20160301-Analyzing-Adverse-Possession-Laws-and-Cases-of-the-States-East-of-the-Mississippi-River |website=American Land Title Association |access-date=22 January 2018 |date=1 March 2016}}</ref> Some states require a hostility requirement to secure adverse possession. While most states take an objective approach to the hostility requirement, some states require a showing of good faith. Good faith means that claimants must demonstrate that they had some basis to believe that they actually owned the property at issue. Four states east of the Mississippi that require good faith in some form are Georgia, Illinois, New York, and Wisconsin.<ref name="ALTA"/>

====Additional requirements====
In addition to the basic elements of an adverse possession case, state law may require one or more additional elements to be proved by a person claiming adverse possession. Depending upon the state, additional requirements may include:

*[[Color of title]], claim of title, or claim of right. Color of title and claim of title involve a legal document that appears (incorrectly) to give the disseisor title.<ref name="ccp323">{{cite web |title=California Code of Civil Procedure § 323 |url=https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CCP&sectionNum=323. |website=California Legislative Information |publisher=[[California Office of Legislative Counsel]] |access-date=29 September 2017|date=1872}}</ref> In some jurisdictions the mere intent to take the land as one's own may constitute "claim of right", with no documentation required.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}} Other cases have determined that a claim of right exists if the person believes they have rightful claim to the property, even if that belief is mistaken.<ref>See, e.g., {{cite web |title=North American Oil Consol. v. Burnet, 286 US 417 (1932) |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=8752680588624533229 |website=Google Scholar |access-date=29 September 2017}}</ref> A negative example would be a timber thief who sneaks onto a property, cuts [[timber]] not visible from the road, and hauls the logs away at night. Their actions, though they demonstrate actual possession, also demonstrate knowledge of guilt, as opposed to claim of right.
*Good faith (in a minority of states) or bad faith (sometimes called the "Maine Doctrine" although it is now abolished in [[Maine]])<ref>{{cite web |title=Dombkowski v. Ferland, 2006 ME 24, 893 A.2d 599 (2006) |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=16400095992802892129 |website=Google Scholar |access-date=29 September 2017}}</ref>
*Improvement, cultivation, or enclosure<ref name="ccp323"/><ref>{{cite web |title=California Code of Civil Procedure § 325 |url=https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CCP&sectionNum=325. |website=California Legislative Information|publisher=[[California Office of Legislative Counsel]] |access-date=29 September 2017 |date=9 July 2010}}</ref>
*Payment of [[property tax]]es. This may be required by statute, such as in [[California]],<ref>{{cite web |title=California Code of Civil Procedure § 325(b) |url=https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CCP&sectionNum=325. |website=California Legislative Information |publisher=[[California Office of Legislative Counsel]] |access-date=29 September 2017 |date=9 July 2010}}</ref> or just a contributing element to a court's determination of possession. Both payment by the disseisor and by the true owner are relevant.
*Dispossession of land owned by a governmental entity: Generally, a disseisor cannot dispossess land legally owned by a government entity even if all other elements of adverse possession are met. One exception is when the government entity is acting like a business rather than a government entity.<ref name="larson"/>

===Consequences===
[[File:Property line, crossing is by revocable license only.jpg|thumb|A metal plaque on the sidewalk of New York City declares that the crossing onto the private property is a revocable license (an agreement to use the property, not an invasion) to protect it from becoming a subject of an adverse possession.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jordan |first1=Cora |last2=Randolph |first2=Mary |title=Neighbor law: fences, trees, boundaries, and noise |date=1994 |publisher=Nolo Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=9780873372664 |edition=second |chapter-url=http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/forestry/easement/easementsacquiredbyuseofproperty.pdf |access-date=26 July 2014 |chapter=Easements Acquired by Use of Property |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318213516/http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/forestry/easement/easementsacquiredbyuseofproperty.pdf |archive-date=18 March 2015 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> Some New York property owners go even further by actually closing their property to the public for one day each year in order to prove their exclusive control.<ref>{{cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |title=Lever House Closes Once a Year to Maintain Its Ownership Rights |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/nyregion/lever-house-closes-once-a-year-to-maintain-its-ownership-rights.html|access-date=29 September 2017 |work=The New York Times |date=30 October 2011}}</ref>]]

A disseisor will be committing a civil [[trespass]] on the property he has taken and the owner of the property could cause him to be evicted by an action in trespass ("ejectment") or by bringing an action for possession. All common law jurisdictions require that an ejectment action be brought within a specified time, after which the true owner is assumed to have [[acquiescence|acquiesced]]. The effect of a failure by the true landowner to evict the adverse possessor depends on the [[jurisdiction]], but will eventually result in title by adverse possession.

In 2008, due to the volume of adverse possession and boundary dispute cases throughout New York City, the [[New York State Legislature]] amended and limited the ability of land to be acquired by adverse possession.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Mavidis|first=Andriana|date=Summer 2011|title=Retrospective Application of the 2008 Amendments to New York's Adverse Possession Laws|url=http://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/lawreview/vol85/iss3/4|journal=St. John's Law Review|volume=85|issue=3|pages=1057–1103}}</ref> Prior to the 2008 amendment, to acquire property by adverse possession, all that was required was a showing that the possession constituted an actual invasion of or infringement upon the owner's rights.<ref>{{cite web|title=Bayshore Gardens Owners, Inc. v Meersand 2008 NY Slip Op 51770(U) [20 Misc 3d 1137(A)] Decided on 18 August 2008|url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=11505688395992666138|website=Google Scholar|access-date=20 June 2017}}</ref> Approximately eight years after the 2008 amendment, on 30 June 2016, the New York State Appellate Division, First Department (i.e., the appellate court covering the territory of Manhattan) determined the legal questions concerning the scope of rights acquired by adverse possession and how the First Department would treat claims of adverse possession where title had vested prior to 2008.<ref name="justia">{{cite news|url=http://law.justia.com/cases/new-york/appellate-division-first-department/2016/1627-601279-08.html|title=Hudson Sq. Hotel, LLC v Stathis Enters., LLC 2016 NY Slip Op 05232|date=30 June 2016|work=New York State Law Reporting Bureau}}</ref> The Court specifically held that title to the adversely possessed property vested when the plaintiff "satisfie[d] the requirement of the statute in effect at the relevant time."<ref name="justia"/> In other words, if title had vested at some time "after" the 2008 amendment, a plaintiff would have to satisfy the adverse possession standards amended by the New York State Legislature in 2008; however, if title vested at some time "before" the 2008 amendment, a plaintiff would have lawfully acquired title to the disputed area by satisfying the pre-amendment standard for adverse possession. ''Hudson Square Hotel'' also resolved two often highly litigated issues in adverse possession cases where the [[air rights]] are more valuable than the underlying land itself: (a) "where" (i.e., in three-dimensional physical space) is an encroachment required in order for such encroachment to have any relevant operative effect or consequences under the law of adverse possession, and (b) "what" property rights are acquired as a result of title to the ground [[Floor area (building)|floor area]] (i.e., the land) vesting with the plaintiff. In ''Hudson Square Hotel'' the defendant argued that the plaintiff had only acquired title to the underlying land, but not the air rights, because the plaintiff never encroached above the two-story building. This argument was motivated, in part, by the fact that the [[zoning laws]] at the time permitted the owner of the land to build (i.e., develop) up to six times the square footage of the ground floor area. For example, if the disputed area was 1,000 square feet, there would be 6,000 square feet of buildable square footage to potentially be won or lost by adverse possession. The Court clarified, "It is the encroachment on the land ... that allows title to pass to the adverse possessor."<ref name="justia"/> In other words, the plaintiff did not need to encroach upon all six stories in order to adversely possess the air rights above the land. The Court also held, "With title to land come air rights."<ref name="justia"/> In other words, by acquiring title to the land (i.e., ground floor area), the plaintiff also acquired ownership of the more valuable air rights that were derivative of title to the underlying land.

In other jurisdictions, the disseisor acquires merely an [[Equity (law)|equitable]] title; the landowner is considered to be a [[trustee]] of the property for the disseisor.

Adverse possession extends only to the property actually possessed. If the original owner had a title to a greater area (or volume) of property, the disseisor does not obtain all of it. The exception to this is when the disseisor enters the land under a [[color of title]] to an entire parcel, their continuous and actual possession of a small part of that parcel will perfect their title to the entire parcel defined in their color of title. Thus a disseisor need not build a dwelling on, or farm on, every portion of a large tract in order to prove possession, as long as their title does correctly describe the entire parcel.

In some jurisdictions, a person who has successfully obtained title to property by adverse possession may (optionally) bring an action in [[land court]] to "[[quiet title]]" of record in their name on some or all of the former owner's property. Such action will make it simpler to convey the interest to others in a definitive manner, and also serves as notice that there is a new ''owner of record'', which may be a prerequisite to benefits such as equity loans or judicial standing as an [[abutter]]. Even if such action is not taken, the title is legally considered to belong to the new titleholder, with most of the benefits and duties, including paying [[property tax]]es to avoid losing title to the tax collector. The effects of having a stranger to the title paying taxes on property may vary from one jurisdiction to another. (Many jurisdictions have accepted tax payment for the same parcel from two different parties without raising an objection or notifying either party that the other had also paid.)

Adverse possession does not typically work against property owned by the public.

Where land is registered under a [[Torrens title]] registration system or similar, special rules apply. It may be that the land cannot be affected by adverse possession (as was the case in [[England and Wales]] from 1875 to 1926, and as is still the case in the state of Minnesota<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20160325101902/https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=508.02 Minn. Stat. 508.02].</ref>) or that special rules apply.

Adverse possession may also apply to territorial rights. In the United States, Georgia lost an island in the Savannah River to South Carolina in 1990, when South Carolina had used [[fill (land)|fill]] from [[dredging]] to attach the island to its own shore. Since Georgia knew of this yet did nothing about it, the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] (which has [[original jurisdiction]] in such matters) [[Georgia v. South Carolina|granted this land]] to South Carolina, although the [[Treaty of Beaufort]] (1787) explicitly specified that the river's islands belonged to Georgia.<ref>Georgia v. South Carolina, 497 U.S. 376 (1990) see [[Georgia v. South Carolina]].</ref>

=== Louisiana ===
[[Louisiana]], which is a civil law state, adopts the legal doctrine of acquisitive prescription. It is derived from [[French law]] and governs the right of a person to gain possession of immovable property (a home). Pursuant to Civil Code Article 742, there are two ways that a squatter can gain possession of an immovable property: (1) peaceable and uninterrupted possession... for ten years in good faith and by just title; [or] (2) uninterrupted possession for thirty years without title or good faith.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Louisiana Laws - Louisiana State Legislature |url=https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?p=y&d=110937 |access-date=2023-11-15 |website=www.legis.la.gov}}</ref>