Your Land Is Now My Land: The Doctrine of Adverse Possession

Squatters' rights dispute in Colorado causes public outrage.

1 minute read

December 4, 2007, 2:00 PM PST

By Abhijeet Chavan @http://twitter.com/legalaidtech

"For more than 20 years, a retired judge and his lawyer wife trespassed on a vacant lot next door to their home....Last year, Richard McLean and Edith Stevens claimed the land as their own under Colorado's adverse possession law, once known as squatters' rights."

"The doctrine of adverse possession, which says a person can gain possession of property after using it without challenge by the owner for a certain length of time, isn't a new or obscure legal doctrine. Still, its application in this case has the residents of this university town fuming."

"Every state in the country has an adverse possession law, although the requirements for bringing a case differ widely. For example, the length of time that a person must show uninterrupted use of another's land varies from five to 30 years."

FULL STORY: This land is their land -- now

Monday, December 3, 2007 in The Los Angeles Times

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