Montana · TitleMontana adverse possession: five years of occupation and every tax paid

Montana has one of the shortest periods but a strict tax condition. An action for the recovery of real property or its possession may not be maintained unless the plaintiff, or an ancestor, predecessor or grantor, was seized or possessed of the property within 5 years before the action (MCA 70-19-401). An occupant who entered under a claim of title founded on a written instrument or a court judgment, and has continued in possession of the property it includes, is treated as holding adversely (MCA 70-19-407). But in no case is adverse possession established unless the land has been occupied and claimed for 5 years continuously and the claimant, with predecessors and grantors, has during that period paid all state, county and municipal taxes legally levied and assessed on the land (MCA 70-19-411). A neighbor who used a strip without paying its taxes therefore can't rely on adverse possession.