AP Elements
The five elements required to meet adverse possession
What is:
Hostile Intent
Open & Notorious
Continuous
Exclusive
Actual
C.A.N.S.S
What is color of title, actual of some, no actual by another, single parcel/single owner
Tacking rule statement
What is the previous possessor can add their time to the subsequent possessor’s time to meet the statutory period, with privity
Name the recognized disabilities
Minor encroachment is _________
_____ notice is required
What is 18 inches or less; what is actual
Subjective jurisdiction that recognizes hostile intent in APers who take property knowing it is not their own
What is larcenous intent jurisdiction?
A written instrument that purports to convey title but fails to convey it for some reason
What is color of title?
The 4 ways a previous and a present APer can have privity
What is grantor/grantee, devisor/devisee, ancestor/heir and any other agreement made orally or written
Type of disabilities and their rule statements
What is existing, coexisting, supervening, and intervening?
The two consequences of color of title
What is shorter SOL and doctrine of constructive possession may apply
A true owner must have actual notice of the APer’s use in order for it to be open and notorious
What is false
No one else can be on the land you are trying to constructively possess - if so you can only adversely possess what you have
What is no actual by another?
Tacking applies when
What is an adverse possessor who does not meet the SOL on her own
Difference between a grace period jurisdiction v. a tolling jurisdiction
What is giving the person with a disability more time to bring action against the APer after the disability has been removed and what is the SOL not running at all until the disability is removed?
Permission given by the TO ____ the ______ element for the APer; Permission given by APer to ____ ____ does ____ ______ the exclusive element for the APer
What is negates the hostile element; what is to third parties does not negate the element
SOL for adverse possession in North Carolina (without color of title)
What is 20 years?
A gets a faulty deed from O for Lots 1 and 2. O does not own Lots 1 and 2, but actually X and Y own them respectively. If A goes into possession of Lot 1, A can claim Lot 2 through doctrine of constructive possession
What is false?
Because you cannot use constructive possession to gain title of an entirely different parcel owned by a different person; technically you do not have “actual of some” of that other parcel
If you use your predecessors time period to add on to yours, you must use the SOL they were required to meet
What is true?
If you have privity and want to tack but they had to hold for the full 20 years, you have to hold it the full 20 as well but can tack their time on to yours or you can stand on your own two feet if you have COT and hold it for that long but you will not be able to tack
If the original SOL gives the true owner more time ignore the disability protection statute
What is true?
The point is to give the person with the disability more time so if the regular SOL does, that is what we go with.
Disability must exist when _____ of ______ ________
What is disability must exist when right of action accrues?
A deer hunter set up a hunting blind on his neighbor’s property. The hunter had asked his neighbor’s permission, but the neighbor had refused to give it. The hunting blind was camouflaged and not visible from any point on the neighbor’s property. The hunter, who used a silencer on his rifle, returned to the hunting blind annually for each weekend during deer hunting season over the next eleven years. The hunting blind stood empty for the remainder of the year. During the fifth year of the hunter’s use of the blind, the neighbor entered advanced stages of dementia, and his niece became his guardian and began making all decisions regarding his property.
If the limitations period for trespass is ten years, does the hunter have title by adverse possession of the land used for a hunting blind?
A. Yes, because the hunter used the blind for more than ten years.
B. No, because the neighbor was disabled due to his advanced dementia.
C. No, because the hunter’s use of the blind was not continuous.
D. No, because the hunter’s use of the blind was not open and notorious.
What is D?
Here, the hunter’s blind was not visible to others, because it was camouflaged. Nor would anyone have heard rifle shots, because the hunter used a silencer. Therefore, the hunter cannot gain title by adverse possession, because his possession was not open and notorious
SOL 20 years/ 7 years with COT - In 2000, Ben gives a deed to Jason to 100 Dover Ave. Unbeknownst to Jason, Ben is not the true owner of 100 Dover Ave. In 2012, Jonathan, the true owner of 100 Dover Ave. discovers Jason is on his property and wishes to eject him from the property. Jonathan’s claim will most likely:
a. Fail, because Jason bought the property in good faith.
b. Succeed, because Jason has not satisfied the statutory period.
c. Fail, because Jason has satisfied the statutory period.
d. Succeed, because giving Jonathan the property would be the right thing to do.
What is C?
Jason has color of title his statutory time period is 2007
SOL 20 years w/o COT/7 years with COT - Wernher Von Braun owned 50 acres in Harnett County, North Carolina. Wernher died in 1990. In his will, Wernher devised his Harnett County property to his two-year-old niece, Pietra. Pietra's parents had died in a plane crash when she was an infant, and she lived
with her mother's best friend in Philadelphia. Wernher’s only other living relative was his
first cousin, Karl Von Braun. Immediately after Wernher's death, Karl took possession of
Wernher’s property and settled in to stay. He has not paid rent to Pietra, and neither Pietra
nor her guardian is aware that Karl is living on the property. When, if ever, will Karl acquire
title by adverse possession?
a. 2013
b. 2010
c. 2009
What is B?
There is no privity, 1990 + 20 = 2010
A woman died, devising land that she owned in another state to her daughter, who was then 17 years old.A neighbor who owned the property immediately adjacent to the land wrongfully began to possess the land at that time. For 24 of the next 25 years, the neighbor planted and harvested crops on the land, hunted on it, and parked cars on it. However, in the sixth year after he first took possession of the land, the neighbor neither planted crops nor hunted nor parked cars on the land because he spent that entire year living in Europe. The neighbor built a small gardening shed on the land, but he never built a residence on it. When the daughter was 28, she was declared mentally incompetent and had a conservator appointed to oversee her affairs. Since then, she has continuously resided in a care facility. The applicable statute of limitations “an ejectment action shall be brought within 21 years after the cause of action accrues, but if the person entitled to bring the cause of actions is under the age 18 or mentally incompetent at the time the cause of action accrues, it may be brought by such person within 10 years after attaining age 18 or after the person becomes competent.
If the daughter conservator wins an ejectment action against the neighbor, what will be the most likely explanation?
A. Because the daughter is mentally incompetent, the statute of limitations has been tolled.
B. The daughter was age 17 when the neighbor first took possession of the land
C. The neighbor never built a residence on the land
D. The neighbor was not in continuous possession of the land for 21 years.
What is D?
Here, the statutory time period for adverse possession is 21 years. Although the neighbor first possessed the land 25 years ago, he left after 5 years and spent a year in Europe. When the neighbor returned from Europe and retook possession of the land, the statutory period started anew. Therefore, the neighbor only continuously possessed the land for the 19 years not 21 years and he did not acquire title by adverse possession.
A neighbor fished in a homeowner’s pond daily for nine years. When the homeowner noticed the neighbor fishing without permission at the beginning of the ninth year, he told the neighbor to leave immediately and escorted the neighbor from the property. The homeowner repaired a broken fence that the neighbor had been using to enter the property. Three months later, the neighbor found a new gap in the fence and began fishing again.
If the statutory period for adverse possession is ten years, how much longer, if at all, does the neighbor need to continue fishing to obtain title?
A. Ten years.
B. One year.
C. Nine months.
D. The neighbor has already occupied the pond for the statutory period.
What is A?
Here, the true owner asserted possession and escorted the neighbor from the property. The homeowner also repaired the fence in an effort to keep the neighbor off his property. These acts would indicate to a reasonable observer from the community that the homeowner intended to assert dominion over the property as against the neighbor. Because continuity was broken, the neighbor’s statutory period of adverse possession started over when he reentered the property. Therefore, the neighbor must occupy the pond for ten more years after he reentered the homeowner’s property to obtain title by adverse possession.