Adverse Possession in Colorado: Eighteen Years, and the Winner May Have to Pay
Reviewed by DocDraft Legal Team · Colorado · Last updated October 5, 2026
In Colorado, winning an adverse possession claim can end with the winner writing a cheque to the person who lost the land. Adverse possession is the rule that turns years of open occupation of another person's property into ownership of it, and Colorado sets the ordinary period at eighteen years. No action for the recovery of the title or possession of real property may be commenced except within eighteen years after the right to bring it first accrued, and eighteen years' adverse possession of any land shall be conclusive evidence of absolute ownership (C.R.S. 38-41-101(1)). A 2008 amendment then raised the bar twice over. Every element must be proved by clear and convincing evidence in any civil action filed on or after July 1, 2008 (C.R.S. 38-41-101(3)(a)), and where fee simple title vests on or after that date the claimant must satisfy all the common law elements and show that they or a predecessor had a good faith belief that the possessor was the actual owner, reasonable under the particular circumstances (C.R.S. 38-41-101(3)(b)). The same amendment added the cheque. If the court decides an award is fair and equitable, it may order the winner to pay the losing owner the county assessor's actual value of the land plus up to eighteen years of the property taxes that owner paid (C.R.S. 38-41-101(5)(a)). Attorney review is available through DocDraft.
Find out where you stand in Colorado
Which side of the boundary question are you on?
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How long does adverse possession take in Colorado?
Eighteen years ordinarily. No action for the recovery of the title or possession of real property may be commenced except within eighteen years after the right first accrued, and eighteen years' adverse possession of any land shall be conclusive evidence of absolute ownership (C.R.S. 38-41-101(1)). Three narrower routes run seven years.
Do you have to pay the property taxes to claim adverse possession in Colorado?
Not on the eighteen year route, which imposes no tax condition. Paying all taxes legally assessed is what buys the shorter period: seven successive years of actual possession under claim and colour of title made in good faith, with all taxes paid, makes the possessor the legal owner (C.R.S. 38-41-108).
Can a Colorado court make a successful adverse possessor pay for the land?
Yes, in its discretion. Where the claimant prevails and the court determines an award of compensation is fair and equitable, it may hold a separate evidentiary hearing after awarding title and order damages measured by the county assessor's most recent valuation, plus reimbursement of the owner's property taxes (C.R.S. 38-41-101(5)(a)).
Can land owned by the State of Colorado or a city be taken by adverse possession?
No. The eighteen year limitation does not apply against the state, county, city and county, city, irrigation district, or any public, municipal or quasi-municipal corporation, and no possession, no matter how long continued, of land, water, water rights or easements owned by them shall ever ripen into any title (C.R.S. 38-41-101(2)).
Colorado adverse possession at a glance
Adverse possession is the doctrine under which land can come to belong to the person who has occupied it rather than the person named on the deed, once the statutory years have run. Colorado's ordinary figure is eighteen years, and eighteen years' adverse possession of any land shall be conclusive evidence of absolute ownership (C.R.S. 38-41-101(1)). Two things make the state unusual. A 2008 amendment requires every element to be proved by clear and convincing evidence and adds a reasonable good faith belief that the possessor was the actual owner (C.R.S. 38-41-101(3)). And the court may, if it thinks an award fair and equitable, order the successful possessor to compensate the losing owner for the land and the taxes (C.R.S. 38-41-101(5)).
A 2004 retaining wall nine feet over a Jefferson County lot line
Say a flagstone patio and a retaining wall built in 2004 sit about nine feet inside the neighbouring lot on a Jefferson County hillside, landscaped and used every summer since. Eighteen years from 2004 lands in 2022, so any fee simple title would vest well after July 1, 2008. That puts the claim inside C.R.S. 38-41-101(3): each element proved by clear and convincing evidence, plus a good faith belief that the possessor was the actual owner that was reasonable under the particular circumstances. And if the claim succeeds, the court may still decide under C.R.S. 38-41-101(5)(a) that compensation is fair and equitable, and set the figure from the county assessor's valuation. How those provisions apply here is a question for the court.
Relevant Laws
C.R.S. 38-41-101 (limitation of eighteen years, the public land bar, the 2008 conditions, and compensation)
Subsection (1) bars an action for recovery of title or possession of real property after eighteen years and makes eighteen years' adverse possession of any land conclusive evidence of absolute ownership. Subsection (2) exempts the state, counties, cities and counties, cities, irrigation districts and public, municipal or quasi-municipal corporations, and provides that no possession however long continued of their land, water, water rights or easements shall ever ripen into title. Subsection (3) requires clear and convincing proof of each element for actions filed on or after July 1, 2008 and a reasonable good faith belief where title vests on or after that date. Subsection (4) confines subsections (3) and (5) to fee simple claims. Subsection (5) allows a discretionary award of compensation to the party losing title.
C.R.S. 38-41-102 (how the eighteen years is computed)
Provides that where the right or title first accrued to an ancestor, predecessor or grantor of the person bringing the action, or to any person under whom they claim, the eighteen years shall be computed from the time when the right or title so accrued.
C.R.S. 38-41-103 (recorded chain as prima facie evidence of adverse possession)
Provides that where the records in the county clerk and recorder's office show by conveyance or other instrument that the party in possession or their predecessors or grantors asserted a continuous claim of ownership adverse to the record owner for eighteen years, the record is deemed prima facie evidence of adverse possession during that period and of compliance with sections 38-41-101 and 38-41-102.
C.R.S. 38-41-104 (when the right to enter or sue first accrues)
Sets out when the right to make an entry or bring an action to recover land is deemed to have first accrued, including at the time of disseisin where a person is disseised, and at the time of death where the claimant claims as heir or devisee of one who died seized or possessed, subject to intervening tenancies, estates, remainders and reversions.
C.R.S. 38-41-106 (seven years under official and judicial conveyances or orders)
Requires actions for recovery of lands claimed by virtue of actual residence, occupancy or possession for seven successive years with a connected title in law or equity deducible of record from the state, the United States, a tax sale official, a sheriff, a marshal or a court order, judgment or decree, to be brought within seven years after possession was taken.
C.R.S. 38-41-108 (seven years with colour of title and payment of taxes)
Provides that a person in actual possession of lands or tenements under claim and colour of title made in good faith, who continues in possession for seven successive years and during that time pays all taxes legally assessed, shall be held and adjudged legal owner to the extent and according to the purport of their paper title, and extends the benefit to successors who continue possession and tax payment.
C.R.S. 38-41-109 (colour of title to vacant and unoccupied land)
Provides that a person with colour of title made in good faith to vacant and unoccupied land who pays all taxes legally assessed for seven successive years is deemed legal owner to the extent of their paper title, withdraws the benefit where a person with a better paper title pays the taxes for any one or more of those years, and treats a redemption from a tax sale as the equivalent of a payment of taxes.
C.R.S. 38-41-111 (seven year repose on recorded decrees and official conveyances)
Bars an action against a person in possession of real property questioning or setting aside, on any ground, a final decree or order of a Colorado court of record or an instrument executed by a trustee, sheriff, marshal, county treasurer or other public official that supports their chain of title, where the document has remained of record in the county for seven years.
C.R.S. 38-35-110 (lis pendens as notice)
Allows any party, after filing a pleading in an action in a Colorado court of record or a federal district court in Colorado where relief is claimed affecting the title to real property, to record a notice of lis pendens naming the court, the parties and a legal description, which from the time of recording is notice to anyone later acquiring an interest through a named party.
Colorado Revised Statutes 2024, Title 38, Office of Legislative Legal Services
The official printout of Title 38, Property Real and Personal, published by the Colorado General Assembly's Office of Legislative Legal Services. Article 41 Part 1, Limitation of Actions Affecting Real Property, begins at page 682 of 732. Every page carries the notation Uncertified Printout. The 2024 edition is the most recent Title 38 printout published on the General Assembly site.
Regional Variances
Colorado adverse possession rules at a glance
Statutory period
Eighteen years ordinarily, and eighteen years' adverse possession of any land shall be conclusive evidence of absolute ownership (C.R.S. 38-41-101(1)). Seven years applies on three narrower routes, at C.R.S. 38-41-106, 38-41-108 and 38-41-109.
Property taxes
A period shortener, not an element of the eighteen year route. Paying all taxes legally assessed for seven successive years, with claim and colour of title made in good faith, is what reduces the period (C.R.S. 38-41-108 and 38-41-109).
Colour of title
Shortens the clock to seven years when made in good faith, and limits the prize. The claimant is held legal owner only to the extent and according to the purport of their paper title (C.R.S. 38-41-108 and 38-41-109).
Standard of proof
Clear and convincing evidence of each element in any civil action filed on or after July 1, 2008 (C.R.S. 38-41-101(3)(a)). The standard drops to a preponderance of the evidence where adverse possession is raised solely as a defence (C.R.S. 38-41-101(5)(b)).
Good faith belief
Required where fee simple title vests on or after July 1, 2008. The claimant or a predecessor in interest must have had a good faith belief that the possessor was the actual owner, reasonable under the particular circumstances (C.R.S. 38-41-101(3)(b)(II)).
Compensation to the losing owner
Discretionary and distinctive. After a separate evidentiary hearing held once title is awarded, the court may order damages at the county assessor's most recent valuation plus reimbursement of the owner's property taxes and assessments for the preceding eighteen years, with statutory interest (C.R.S. 38-41-101(5)(a)).
Acreage cap
None. No acreage figure appears anywhere in C.R.S. 38-41-101 through 38-41-112. The statute refers to adverse possession of any land, and limits extent through the paper title on the seven year routes instead.
Government owned land
Barred in broad terms. The limitation does not apply against the state, a county, a city and county, a city, an irrigation district or any public, municipal or quasi-municipal corporation, and no possession however long continued of their land, water, water rights or easements shall ever ripen into any title (C.R.S. 38-41-101(2)).
Perfecting title
A civil action in a Colorado court of record, which the statute calls the adverse possession action leading to an order awarding title (C.R.S. 38-41-101(5)(a)). A recorded chain can serve as prima facie evidence (C.R.S. 38-41-103), and a notice of lis pendens may be recorded once a pleading is filed (C.R.S. 38-35-110(1)).
Frequently Asked Questions
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