Elements of Adverse Possession

• In Arizona, a person may claim a right to property by adverse possession if he actually enters the property, makes his possession of the land visible to the public and exclusively possesses the land without the owner’s consent. Furthermore, possession of the property must be continuous for at least 10 years; a person who occasionally possesses a property when he is not the legal owner may be considered a trespasser in violation of law and has no right to an adverse possession claim.
  
  

Successive Adverse Possessors

• Arizona law provides that a person may meet the requirement for 10 years of continuous possession through tacking. This occurs when there are successive adverse possessors who each possess the property for less than 10 years at a time. If a person is in adverse possession of a property for four years and then sells it to another person, who takes adverse possession of the property for six years, then the current person in adverse possession of the property may tack his successor's four years of possession onto his six years of possession to meet Arizona’s 10 years of continuous possession requirement.
  
  

Disibility, Minority or Imprisonment of Original Owner

• The Arizona courts give special consideration to situations where the original property owner was under the age of 18, disabled or imprisoned when the newcomer commenced adverse possession of the property. If the original owner was a minor or not of sound mind when the newcomer commenced adverse possession of his property, then the owner’s period of minority or disability during the adverse possession will not be considered part of the newcomer’s continuous period of possession. If the original owner was imprisoned when the commenced adverse possession of his property, then the newcomer’s period of continuous possession does not begin until the original owner discovers the newcomer’s adverse possession of the property or should have discovered through reasonable diligence the adverse possession.
  
  

Other Special Rules

• In Arizona, a person in adverse possession of a property must pay five consecutive years of property taxes on the property before obtaining legal title. Also, the maximum amount of land in Arizona a person can acquire through adverse possession is 160 acres, including any improvements he might make to the land during his period of continuous possession.