How does one go about changing adverse possession into quite title?

Question

What are the legal steps? I want to know the ins and outs before jumping into a hornets nest with my new neighbor

Answer 1

If I understand your question (and assuming that this is a follow-up to your previous question about adverse possession), you are seeking to confirm your title to land that you currently adversely possess. While you should talk with a local attorney (as you will need legal representation), you are basically talking about a suit to quiet title over a disputed piece of land. In such a law suit, you will be seeking to prove your ownership in the land -- either through an existing deed if the land is covered by your deed (with the implicit claim that your neighbor has not adversely possessed it) or by adverse possession if you and your predecessor have adequately possessed the land despite it actually being your neighbors.
Once, you file your lawsuit you can expect your neighbor to In defense, you can expect your neighbor to claim the exact opposite.

Obviously, the risk of such a suit is that, if you lose, you have stirred up the hornet's nest with your new neighbor and put him on notice about his interest in the disputed land -- meaning that you will probably never get clear title. As such, you and your attorney should make sure that all of your ducks are in a row before the suit is filed.

Answer 2

Adverse Possession usually requires that the person live on, and maintain, the property for a number of years, AND pay the taxes. Some places it's as much as 20 years. If you have been living on a property for some years, you could claim it under that. My Dad actually had a legal claim, as most of the heirs were dead, and didn't even know the property was still around, but he was so afraid a lawyer would "steal" it from him, he didn't let anyone know he owned it, which was his downfall, as he couldn't prove he had had control that long, as no one knew he'd been living on it without it being his. Talk about a Catch 22! Anyway, the property got sold, and his estate was able to recover about 20,000 in taxes he'd paid on it.
Anyway, not sure what your situation is, as you don't say with a new neighbor ( did you just move in, or did they? ). In this modern day and age, I'd have a hard time believing you'll have an easy time trying to acquire property by Adverse Possession. There are so many pitfalls, and very few, if any, lawyers alive who have experience with it ( also my Dad's problem ). Good luck with it, you'll need it.

Been there, seen it happen, wasn't pretty.

Answer 3

An action to "quiet title" is the legal process. Quiet is being used as a verb, as in "to make quiet".

It's filing a lawsuit in the form of a declaratory judgment asserting adverse possession as a claim.

It's a complicated legal procedure, that relies on a lot of subtle legal interpretations, and you're going to need to be able to cite all the relevant statutes and case precedent, and to defend against the case law cited by the other side.

If you are not very confident of your ability to research case law and write legal memoranda, you should hire an attorney.