Adverse Possession in Arkansas: Seven Years, Plus the 1995 Tax and Title Requirement
Reviewed by DocDraft Legal Team · Arkansas · Last updated October 5, 2026
Adverse possession, the rule by which years of occupying another person's land can end in owning it, was once almost entirely a matter of Arkansas case law. A 1995 Act changed that, and the statute it created does not replace the old requirements but stacks on top of them. Start with the clock. No person or their heirs shall have, sue, or maintain any action for any lands, tenements, or hereditaments after seven years once the right to maintain the suit has accrued (Ark. Code Ann. 18-61-101(a)(1)). Now add the statute. To establish adverse possession, the person and those under whom they claim must have actual or constructive possession of the property claimed and have either held colour of title to it for at least seven years while paying the ad valorem taxes on it, or held colour of title to contiguous property for at least seven years while paying the ad valorem taxes on that contiguous property (Ark. Code Ann. 18-11-106(a)). The section then says plainly that its requirements are in addition to all other requirements for establishing adverse possession, and that it supplements rather than repeals existing case law (Ark. Code Ann. 18-11-106(c) and (d)(1)). Public land sits behind its own wall. Arkansas devotes a whole subchapter to it, and no title to realty of a town, city, school district, county, or the state may be defeated because of adverse possession (Ark. Code Ann. 22-1-204). Attorney review is available through DocDraft.
Find out where you stand in Arkansas
Which side of the boundary question are you on?
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How long does adverse possession take in Arkansas?
Seven years. No person or their heirs shall sue or maintain any action for any lands, tenements, or hereditaments after seven years once the right to maintain the suit has accrued, and all such suits must be sued within seven years next after the title or cause of action accrued (Ark. Code Ann. 18-61-101(a)).
Do you have to pay the property taxes to claim adverse possession in Arkansas?
Yes, as a general rule. Ark. Code Ann. 18-11-106(a) requires colour of title plus payment of the ad valorem taxes for at least seven years, either on the property claimed or on contiguous property held under colour of title. Subsection (b) excuses the tax part only for a person or entity exempt from ad valorem taxes by law.
Can paying taxes alone create colour of title in Arkansas?
In two narrow situations. Colour of title may be established by paying the ad valorem taxes for at least seven years for unimproved and unenclosed land, or fifteen years for wild and unimproved land, provided the true owner has not also paid or made a bona fide good faith effort to pay misapplied taxes (Ark. Code Ann. 18-11-106(a)(1)(B)).
Can land owned by an Arkansas city, county or the state be taken this way?
No. Arkansas devotes a subchapter to the question. No title or right of possession to realty by an incorporated town, city of the second class, city of the first class, school district, county, or the state may be defeated in any action or proceeding because of adverse possession (Ark. Code Ann. 22-1-204).
Arkansas adverse possession at a glance
Adverse possession is the mechanism by which land can end up belonging to a person who occupied it, rather than to the person on the deed, once a statutory period has run. Arkansas sets that period at seven years for suits to recover lands, tenements, or hereditaments (Ark. Code Ann. 18-61-101(a)). The part that catches people out is the layer added in 1995. A claimant must also have actual or constructive possession plus seven years of colour of title with the ad valorem taxes paid, on the claimed land or on contiguous land held under colour of title (Ark. Code Ann. 18-11-106(a)). The statute states that these requirements are in addition to all other requirements and supplement existing case law rather than replacing it.
Sixteen years of tax receipts on sixty wild acres in Desha County
Think of sixty acres of wild bottomland in Desha County that one family has paid the ad valorem taxes on for sixteen straight years, never clearing it, never fencing it, with the record title standing in the name of an estate nobody has probated. On colour of title the statutes are generous here. Payment of taxes on wild and unimproved land for fifteen consecutive years creates a presumption that the payer held colour of title before the first payment (Ark. Code Ann. 18-11-103), and unimproved and unenclosed land is deemed to be in the possession of the person who pays the taxes if they hold colour of title and have paid for seven years in succession (Ark. Code Ann. 18-11-102). Whether those presumptions carry this tract is for the circuit court.
Relevant Laws
Ark. Code Ann. 18-61-101 (seven year bar on actions to recover land)
Provides that no person or their heirs shall have, sue, or maintain any action for any lands, tenements, or hereditaments after seven years once the right to maintain the suit accrued, and that all such suits shall be sued within seven years next after the title or cause of action accrued. Subsection (b) gives a person under twenty-one or non compos mentis three years after full age or coming of sound mind, and subsection (c) bars cumulative disability.
Ark. Code Ann. 18-11-106 (adverse possession: colour of title and ad valorem taxes)
Requires actual or constructive possession plus either colour of title to the claimed property for at least seven years with the ad valorem taxes paid, or colour of title to contiguous property for at least seven years with the taxes paid on that contiguous property. Allows colour of title to be established by tax payment over seven years for unimproved and unenclosed land or fifteen years for wild and unimproved land, exempts persons and entities exempt from ad valorem taxes by law, and states that its requirements are in addition to and supplement existing case law.
Ark. Code Ann. 18-11-102 (payment of taxes on unimproved or unenclosed land deemed possession)
Provides that unimproved and unenclosed land shall be deemed and held to be in the possession of the person who pays the taxes on it if that person has colour of title to it, and that no person may invoke the benefit of the section unless they, and those under whom they claim, have paid the taxes for at least seven years in succession.
Ark. Code Ann. 18-11-103 (wild and unimproved land, presumption of colour of title)
Provides that payment of taxes on wild and unimproved land in Arkansas by a person or their predecessor in title for fifteen consecutive years creates a presumption of law that colour of title was held before the first payment and that all the payments were made under colour of title.
Ark. Code Ann. 18-11-104 (right of possession not impaired by descent cast)
Provides that the right of any person to the possession of any lands or tenements shall not be impaired or affected by a descent cast in consequence of the death of any person in possession of the estate.
Ark. Code Ann. 18-60-501, 18-60-503, 18-60-504, 18-60-505 and 18-60-506 (confirming and quieting title)
Section 18-60-501 lets any person claiming to own wild or improved land, or land in their actual possession, have the title confirmed and quieted. Section 18-60-503 requires weekly publication for four weeks and empowers the circuit court within the proper county to decree cancellation of liens barred by limitation or laches. Section 18-60-504 adjudicates summoned parties according to the principles of equity, 18-60-505 requires proof of all allegations, and 18-60-506 sets a prima facie title standard of colour of title for more than seven years with taxes continuously paid.
Ark. Code Ann. 22-1-204 (realty owned by cities, towns, school districts, counties, or the state)
Provides that no title or right of possession to realty by an incorporated town, city of the second class, city of the first class, school district, county, or the state may be defeated in any action or proceeding because of adverse possession.
Ark. Code Ann. 22-1-201, 22-1-202, 22-1-203, 22-1-205 and 22-1-206 (the rest of the public land subchapter)
The subchapter headed Adverse Possession also bars acquisition of any public thoroughfare, road, highway or public park, of lands or easements owned by a municipality for municipal waterworks purposes, of public school system property including any school district, college or university supported wholly or in part by tax dollars, and of the property and easements of drainage districts and levee districts.
Ark. Code Ann. 14-301-113 (alleys, streets and public parks in cities and towns)
Provides that no title or right of possession to any alley, street, or public park, or any portion of one, in any city or incorporated town in Arkansas shall or can be acquired by adverse possession or adverse occupancy, and addresses the validity of earlier deeds to dedicated land.
Regional Variances
Arkansas adverse possession rules at a glance
Statutory period
Seven years. No action for any lands, tenements, or hereditaments may be maintained after seven years once the right to maintain it accrued, and all such suits must be sued within seven years next after the title or cause of action accrued (Ark. Code Ann. 18-61-101(a)).
Property taxes
A requirement, not a shortcut. Ark. Code Ann. 18-11-106(a) requires colour of title for at least seven years with the ad valorem taxes paid, on the claimed land or on contiguous land held under colour of title. No provision reduces any period in exchange for paying.
The one tax exemption
The payment requirement does not apply to a person or entity exempt from the payment of ad valorem taxes by law, who needs possession plus seven years of colour of title to the claimed or contiguous property instead (Ark. Code Ann. 18-11-106(b)).
Colour of title
Required rather than optional, and obtainable through taxes. It may be established by paying ad valorem taxes for at least seven years for unimproved and unenclosed land, or fifteen years for wild and unimproved land, if the true owner has not also paid or made a bona fide good faith effort to pay misapplied taxes (Ark. Code Ann. 18-11-106(a)(1)(B)).
Relationship to case law
Additive. The requirements of Ark. Code Ann. 18-11-106 are in addition to all other requirements for establishing adverse possession, and the section does not repeal any requirement under existing case law but supplements it (subsections (c) and (d)(1)).
Acreage cap
None. No acreage figure appears in Ark. Code Ann. 18-11-101 through 18-11-108, in 18-61-101, or in the confirmation subchapter at 18-60-501 onwards. Arkansas distinguishes by land category rather than by size.
Government owned land
Barred by a dedicated subchapter. Ark. Code Ann. 22-1-204 protects town, city, school district, county and state realty, with separate sections for roads and parks, municipal waterworks land, public school system property, and drainage and levee district property (Ark. Code Ann. 22-1-201 through 22-1-206).
Perfecting title
A petition to confirm and quiet title (Ark. Code Ann. 18-60-501), with weekly published notice for four weeks and the circuit court within the proper county empowered to cancel liens barred by limitation or laches (Ark. Code Ann. 18-60-503), and proof of every allegation required (Ark. Code Ann. 18-60-505).
Frequently Asked Questions
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