South Carolina · TitleSouth Carolina adverse possession: ten years, color of title and what counts as possession

South Carolina bars an action to recover real property, or its possession, unless the plaintiff or a predecessor was seized or possessed of the premises within ten years before the action (S.C. Code §15-3-340). The person with legal title is presumed to have been in possession, and anyone else's occupation is treated as subordinate to that title unless the premises were held and possessed adversely for ten years (§15-67-210). If the occupant entered under a claim of title founded on a written instrument or a court judgment and has continued in possession of part of the premises for ten years, everything the instrument describes is treated as held adversely (§15-67-220); land counts as possessed when usually cultivated or improved, protected by a substantial enclosure, or used for fuel or fencing timber (§15-67-230). Without a written instrument, only the land actually occupied is held adversely, and only if protected by a substantial enclosure or usually cultivated or improved (§§15-67-240, 15-67-250). A tenant's possession is the landlord's until ten years after the tenancy ends (§15-67-260), and no action may be brought against a person in possession under a written instrument unless the claimant was in possession within forty years (§15-3-380).