9.1 Adverse Possession under Miss. Code Ann. § 15-1-13

The statute

§ 15-1-13(1): "Ten (10) years' actual adverse possession by any person claiming to be the owner for that time of any land, uninterruptedly continued for ten (10) years by occupancy, descent, conveyance, or otherwise, in whatever way such occupancy may have commenced or continued, shall vest in every actual occupant or possessor of such land a full and complete title." It saves to persons under the disability of minority or unsoundness of mind the right to sue within ten years after the disability is removed, as provided in § 15-1-7. The saving for unsoundness of mind never extends beyond 31 years.

§ 15-1-13(2): for claims not matured as of July 1, 1998, subsection (1) does not apply against a landowner on whose property a fence or driveway has been built, if the landowner files with the chancery clerk, within the ten years, a written notice that the fence or driveway was built without the landowner's permission. The clerk files the notice in the land records, and it must describe the property. Failing to file creates no inference that the property was adversely possessed.

The companion limitations statute, § 15-1-7, bars actions to recover land more than ten years after the right accrued, with similar disability provisions. When the ten years run, the possessor gains title, not just a defense. That title is usually made marketable by a suit to confirm and quiet title in chancery court (§ 11-17-29).

The elements

Mississippi courts describe the possession that ripens into title as:

Burden. The claimant must prove each element by clear and convincing evidence, a higher standard than the preponderance used in most civil cases.

Permission defeats hostility. Use that begins with the owner's permission stays permissive until the user clearly repudiates it and the owner knows. The 1998 statute lets owners document lack of permission for fences and driveways without suing.

Taxes. Mississippi's statute does not require the possessor to pay taxes, but paying taxes on the disputed land is evidence of a claim of ownership.

No adverse possession against the State

Mississippi Constitution § 104: "Statutes of limitation in civil causes shall not run against the State, or any subdivision or municipal corporation thereof." § 15-1-51 says the same by statute. Because adverse possession is a statute of limitations, private occupation does not ripen into title against State lands, public-trust tidelands (Section 10.3), county and municipal property, or sixteenth section school lands (Section 11.3). For sixteenth section lands, § 29-3-7 adds a narrower rule: 25 years of adverse possession under a claim of right or title is prima facie evidence that a lease or sale was duly made. That is an evidentiary presumption about a claimed lease or sale, not title by possession alone.

What the surveyor does, and does not do

The surveyor's role in adverse possession is evidentiary:

• Retrace and monument the record line, and locate the possession line: fences, buildings, cultivated edges, and drives, with offsets (Rule 7.3, items 9, 10, and 15).
• Record evidence of age: wire grown into trees, post types, the age of improvements, historic aerial imagery, and prior surveys.
• Do not declare title. Whether the elements were met for ten years, and whether a § 15-1-13(2) notice was filed, are questions for the owners, their attorneys, and the court. A notice filed in the land records is itself worth finding and citing on the plat as a source.

Worked scenarios

• Fence built by permission in 2010. A neighbor fenced and grazed a strip with the owner's verbal permission for 14 years. No title: permissive use lacks hostility unless clearly repudiated.
• Driveway, owner files notice. In year 6 of a neighbor's encroaching driveway, the owner files a § 15-1-13(2) notice with the chancery clerk. The ten-year claim based on that driveway is blocked.
• Fence on a county right-of-way. No title against the county: limitations do not run against subdivisions of the State (§ 104; § 15-1-51).
• Minor owner. If the record owner was a minor when the possession began, the owner may sue within ten years after reaching majority.