Housing · Adverse Possession
Adverse Possession Time in Michigan
How many years of continuous possession it takes to claim land by adverse possession in Michigan, whether you must pay the property taxes, the exceptions, and the limits. Cited to the statute.
How adverse possession works in Michigan
The period or periods, whether taxes must be paid, and the limits that apply.
| How it works | What it means |
|---|---|
| Fifteen years is the residual rule | MCL 600.5801(4) says that in all other cases under the section the period of limitation is 15 years. Anyone who does not fit the shorter subsections is here, and most fence-line and boundary disputes are. |
| Five years for a court-derived deed | MCL 600.5801(1) gives the owner only 5 years to sue where the possessor claims title through a deed made by an executor, administrator, guardian, or testamentary trustee, or by a sheriff or other officer under a court order, or by a sheriff on a mortgage foreclosure sale. |
| Ten years for a tax deed | MCL 600.5801(2) sets 10 years where the possessor claims under a deed made by a state or federal officer authorized to convey lands sold for taxes. The trigger is holding a tax deed from a completed tax sale, which is a link in a chain of title. |
| The period turns on the paper, not the state of mind | Each shorter subsection opens with what the defendant, meaning the person in possession, claims title through. Michigan asks where the possessor’s deed came from and does not ask whether the possessor acted in good faith. |
| Exceptions and limits | What it means |
|---|---|
| You cannot adversely possess state land | MCL 600.5821(1) says an action to recover land to which the State is a party is not subject to any period of limitations or to laches, so no length of possession runs against the State. |
| Local government land is closed off too | MCL 600.5821(2), as amended in 2016, bars adverse possession, acquiescence for the statutory period, and prescriptive easements against a municipal corporation, political subdivision, or county road commission, including public highways, streets, alleys, and easements. All three theories are named and shut. |
| Minors and legally insane persons get a year of grace | MCL 600.5851 gives a person who was under 18 or legally insane when the claim accrued one year after that disability is removed to sue, even if the period has run. The disability must exist at accrual, and successive disabilities cannot be tacked. |
| A devise runs from probate, not death | MCL 600.5801(3) measures its 15 years from the probate of the will in Michigan, which can fall materially later than the testator’s death. This is the one subsection that writes the start date into the period. |
What you can do right now
Concrete, neutral steps for a claim or a defense in Michigan. This is legal information, not legal advice.
- Trace the deed before you count the years
In Michigan the length of the clock depends on the source of any deed the possessor holds. A court-derived deed can cut the owner’s window to 5 years, a tax deed to 10, while a plain fence-line dispute with no paper is the full 15.
- Do not rely on paying the taxes
Paying the property tax bill on land you do not own shortens nothing. The 10-year rule rewards holding a tax deed from a completed tax sale, which is a chain of title, not the act of paying taxes.
- Owners: government land is safe, private land is not
The State and local governments cannot lose land to adverse possession, acquiescence, or prescription. Private owners have no such shield and should address encroachments well before 15 years.
- Talk to a Michigan real-estate attorney
The subsection that applies, and whether acquiescence fits better than adverse possession, turn on facts and on case law the statute does not spell out. A licensed Michigan attorney can assess a claim or defense.
This is general legal information, not legal advice. Color of title, tax payment, acreage caps, and recent amendments can change the answer, so confirm your situation with a licensed attorney.
What people get wrong about Michigan adverse possession
Michigan’s adverse-possession period is usually stated as fifteen years, and for the ordinary fence-line or boundary dispute that is right, under MCL 600.5801(4). What makes Michigan unusual is that the same section shortens the clock according to where the possessor’s claimed title came from, not according to the possessor’s good faith. If the possessor holds a deed from an executor, guardian, testamentary trustee, or a sheriff acting on a court order or a mortgage foreclosure, the owner has only five years to sue, under subsection (1). If the possessor holds a tax deed made by a state or federal officer after a tax sale, it is ten years, under subsection (2). A devise from a probated will is fifteen years, measured from probate rather than death. Two things Michigan does not have are worth stating plainly. There is no color-of-title provision by that name, and there is no tax-payment shortcut. A possessor who diligently paid the taxes for years but holds no deed is on the ordinary fifteen-year clock, exactly as if they had never paid a cent. State and local government land is off limits entirely, and since 2016 the statute bars adverse possession, acquiescence, and prescriptive easements against local units by name.
Common questions
How long does adverse possession take in Michigan?
Fifteen years in the ordinary case under MCL 600.5801(4). The same section drops it to five years when the possessor claims through a court-derived deed, and to ten years when they claim through a tax deed issued by a state or federal officer.
Does paying property taxes shorten adverse possession in Michigan?
No. There is no tax-payment shortcut. The ten-year rule in MCL 600.5801(2) rewards holding a tax deed from a completed tax sale, which is a chain of title, not the act of paying the tax bill on land you do not own.
Does Michigan have color of title?
Not by that name. The statute never uses the phrase. It instead sets shorter periods keyed to a short, closed list of court-derived and tax-sale deeds, which functions like color of title but is drawn differently.
Can you adverse-possess government land in Michigan?
No. MCL 600.5821 exempts State land from any period of limitations, and since 2016 the statute bars adverse possession, acquiescence for the statutory period, and prescriptive easements against local governments, including public roads and easements.
Not legal advicePlainStatute provides plain-language summaries of public law for general information only. This is not legal advice. Statutes change; always confirm current requirements with the official source linked above before acting.