law the bar

adverse possession. sometimes when someone stays long enough ona piece of property that is not their own, they end up owning the property. that is the basic concept of adverse possession. to be more exact, when a trespasser stayslong enough on a piece of property, and certain requirements are met, then the trespasseris no longer a trespasser and instead is the owner of the property. the trespasser’s adverse possession is saidto “ripen into title.” as we just mentioned, adverse possession requirescertain elements.

these elements are easy to remember becauseof our friend named chao who embodies the elements of adverse possession. chao continuously uses the land for the statutoryperiod. chao is hostile because he does not have consent. chao’s use is actual and exclusive becausehe literally uses the land and the owner does not. chao’s use is open and notorious becausethe owner can observe his trespassing. note: it does not matter if the trespasserknows or doesn’t know that he is trespassing. a trespasser may take advantage of the timethat another trespasser has already spent.

this is called tacking. tacking requires privity. this means that there must actually be a conveyancefrom the previous possessor to the current possessor in written form. usually it is an erroneous deed but otherexamples include a will or contract. note: the current possessor cannot have gainedpossession from the preceding possessor by hostile means. in other words, the preceding possessor mustgive their consent. further note: an adverse possessor cannotgain possession by ousting because ousting

is hostile. this is not to be confused with how a cotenantcan use adverse possession to gain full possession of his shared property by ousting the othercotenants. ousting can be utilized by a cotenant becausehe actually has ownership in the property which is different than a scenario for tackingwhere the person doing the ousting does not own the property. for review, see the video lecture on concurrentestates at 10:26 minutes. here are a couple examples of tacking. a adversely possesses a piece of propertyfor 10 years.

b enters onto the property. a conveys possession of the property to bbut there is no written document. b cannot tack on a’s 10 years to use towardsatisfying adverse possession. instead, b’s statutory time period startsfrom zero. a conveys possession of the property to bwith a written document. since the conveyance is in written form, bcan tack on a’s 10 years to use toward satisfying adverse possession. disability exception. adverse possession cannot be satisfied ifthe owner is disabled.

this is because the statutory period willnot start. the reasoning for this exception is that disabilitiesstrongly burden an owner’s ability to oversee and investigate his land. and therefore, the open and notorious elementof adverse possession cannot be satisfied. if the disability ends, then the statutoryperiod can begin. some disability examples are: insanity, infancy,and imprisonment.