Texas · TitleTexas adverse possession: the three-, five-, ten- and 25-year limitation periods

Texas defines adverse possession as an actual and visible appropriation of real property, begun and continued under a claim of right inconsistent with and hostile to another's claim, and peaceable possession as continuous possession not interrupted by a suit to recover the property (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §16.021). An owner must sue within three years to recover land held in peaceable and adverse possession under title or color of title (§16.024); within five years against a possessor who cultivates, uses or enjoys the land, pays the taxes and claims under a duly registered deed – not a quitclaim deed, a forged deed or a deed under a forged power of attorney (§16.025); and within ten years against a possessor who cultivates, uses or enjoys the land, limited to 160 acres without a title instrument unless more is actually enclosed (§16.026). Regardless of any legal disability, suit must come within 25 years against a possessor who cultivates, uses or enjoys the land (§16.027), and no action can be maintained against someone who has held the land for 25 years in good faith under a deed or other instrument recorded in the county, which extends the possession to everything the instrument describes, even if it is void (§16.028).