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Change to adverse possession statutes heads to Assembly

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//February 9, 2016//

Change to adverse possession statutes heads to Assembly

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//February 9, 2016//

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State senators have approved a proposal meant to give property owners more protection from trespassers who take over their land through a legal proceeding known as adverse possession.

The state’s adverse-possession statutes let a person who does not have title to a particular plot of land nonetheless obtain ownership of it if he can prove three things: that he physically occupies the land, that he occupies it openly and that he occupies it separately from the person who holds title to the land.

Current law gives owners who want to prevent such an adverse possession from taking place as many as 20 years to file a challenge. In certain circumstances, the time period can be as short as seven years.

On Tuesday, state senators essentially voted in favor of allowing owners to easily restart the clock. Senate Bill 344 — which was approved by a voice vote — would let owners reset the deadline simply by going to the local register of deeds and filing an affidavit challenging the adverse possession.

Tuesday’s vote, though, was just the start of the journey for Senate Bill 344. To become law, it still needs the state Assembly’s blessing and Gov. Scott Walker’s signature.

The proposal got off to a rocky start when critics argued that it — at least in its original form — would have essentially eliminated adverse possession in all cases.

“This caused a lot of problems,” said state Sen. Chris Kapenga, a Republican from Delafield and an author of the bill.

The bill was later amended because between 10 and 15 organizations had registered themselves with the state as being opposed to it, Kapenga said.

Speaking from the Senate floor Tuesday, he said he and other lawmakers responded to the concerns with an amendment. The result, he said, was the provision that would let owners submit affidavits to the local recorder of deeds in order to reset the adverse-possession clock.

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