Adverse Possession in Delaware: Twenty Years and a Statute That Never Says It
Reviewed by DocDraft Legal Team · Delaware · Last updated October 5, 2026
Delaware's adverse possession statute never uses the words adverse possession. Adverse possession is the rule that lets a person who openly occupies land belonging to someone else become its legal owner once the statutory clock has run, and Delaware's clock is twenty years. The code states it in old statutory English: no person shall make an entry into any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, but within 20 years next after the person's right or title to the same first descended or accrued (10 Del. C. 7901). A companion section lets a claimant allege only an actual seisin of the premises claimed, within those twenty years (10 Del. C. 7902). The whole chapter is four sections long. Because the statute is silent on everything else, the Court of Chancery supplies the test: a possessor must show, by a preponderance of the evidence, possession that was open and notorious, hostile and adverse, exclusive, actual, and continuous for twenty years. The court has itself called that burden somewhat surprising, because it is lower than clear and convincing evidence. There is no tax element in Delaware. The word tax appears nowhere in the chapter. There is no acreage cap either, and no written instrument shortens the twenty years. What Delaware protects absolutely is State land: no title or interest in real property belonging to the State may be acquired by adverse possession or presumed grant (7 Del. C. 4519), and a claimant the State defeats can be charged with the State's costs unless the claim had substantial merit (7 Del. C. 4520). Attorney review is available through DocDraft.
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How long must someone occupy land in Delaware to claim adverse possession?
Twenty years. No person shall make an entry into any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, but within 20 years next after the person's right or title to the same first descended or accrued (10 Del. C. 7901), and a claimant may allege only an actual seisin of the premises claimed within those twenty years (10 Del. C. 7902).
Do property taxes have to be paid for a Delaware adverse possession claim?
No. The word tax does not appear anywhere in Delaware's four section adverse possession chapter, 10 Del. C. 7901 through 7904. The Court of Chancery's test asks only for possession that is open and notorious, hostile and adverse, exclusive, actual, and continuous for twenty years.
What standard of proof applies to a Delaware adverse possession claim?
A preponderance of the evidence. The Court of Chancery has stated that the burden of proof for adverse possession is only a preponderance of the evidence rather than clear and convincing evidence, and called that lower standard somewhat surprising. The five elements are proved to that standard.
Can land owned by the State of Delaware be claimed by adverse possession?
No. No title or other interest in real property belonging to the State shall be acquired by adverse possession, presumed grant or any means other than by a deed, conveyance or other written instrument of transfer executed by a duly authorized official of the State under state law (7 Del. C. 4519).
Delaware adverse possession at a glance
Adverse possession is the doctrine under which someone who occupies another person's land openly and for long enough can end up holding legal title to it. Delaware's version is four sections of old statutory English that never say the words. The operative rule bars any entry into lands, tenements or hereditaments except within twenty years after the right or title first descended or accrued (10 Del. C. 7901), and a claimant may plead only an actual seisin within that span (10 Del. C. 7902). No tax payment is required, no deed shortens the twenty years, and no acreage ceiling applies. The Court of Chancery fills the gaps with five elements proved on a preponderance of the evidence, and State land is removed from reach entirely by 7 Del. C. 4519.
A Kent County field edge, and a survey that changed nothing
Twenty years is long enough for a Kent County field boundary to slip out of everyone's memory. Picture a grain farmer outside Smyrna who has cropped a sixty foot strip across the neighbouring parcel line since 2003, turning it with his own equipment each spring and taking the harvest off it each autumn. In 2017 the neighbour commissioned a survey, received a plan showing the true line, and sent a copy across. Nothing else happened. Under the reasoning the Court of Chancery has applied, attempts to shore up one's own title do not effect an ouster of a possessor and do not suffice to toll the limitation period, so that survey alone would not have reset 10 Del. C. 7901. What the full record adds up to is a question for the Court of Chancery.
Relevant Laws
10 Del. C. 7901 (the twenty year right of entry)
Provides that no person shall make an entry into any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, but within 20 years next after the person's right or title to the same first descended or accrued. This is the section the Court of Chancery identifies as codifying the common law of adverse possession in Delaware.
10 Del. C. 7902 (actual seisin or possession)
Provides that no person shall maintain any writ of right or action, real, personal or mixed, or make any prescription or claim to lands, tenements or hereditaments, and allege any further seisin than an actual seisin of the person or the person's ancestor or predecessor, of the premises sued for or claimed, within 20 years next before the writ or action.
10 Del. C. 7903 (extension for persons under disability)
Provides that where the person entitled to the entry or action was an infant, mentally ill or imprisoned when the right first accrued, that person, or anyone claiming from, by or under them, may make the entry or bring the action within 10 years after the disability is removed, notwithstanding that the 20 years specified in sections 7901 and 7902 has expired.
10 Del. C. 7904 (successors in title to persons under disability)
Provides that where the person entitled to an entry or action dies under any of the disabilities specified in the chapter, any other person claiming from, by or under them has the same benefit the first entitled person would have had by living until the disability was removed.
7 Del. C. 4519 (no adverse possession of State land)
Provides that no title or other interest in real property belonging to the State shall be acquired by adverse possession, presumed grant or any means other than by a deed or conveyance or other written instrument of transfer executed by a duly authorized official of the State pursuant to state law.
7 Del. C. 4520 (costs of defeating a claim to public lands)
Provides that a person who asserts a claim to any interest in recorded public lands of the State is liable, if the State defeats the claim in a judicial proceeding, for all of the State's costs and expenses including investigative, administrative, surveying, engineering, title search, consultant and attorney costs, unless the claim has substantial merit. The State must petition within 45 days of final judgment.
10 Del. C. 6701 (trying title in ejectment)
Provides that legal title to lands or tenements whereon entry can be made may be tried in a civil action based on a cause of action in ejectment, begun by filing a complaint in the office of the prothonotary of the county in which the lands lie, with a sufficient description of the lands claimed. Any actual occupant must be named as a defendant, and the summons requires an answer within 20 days of service.
10 Del. C. 341 and 342 (Court of Chancery equity jurisdiction)
Section 341 gives the Court of Chancery jurisdiction to hear and determine all matters and causes in equity. Section 342 withholds jurisdiction where a sufficient remedy may be had at common law or by statute before another court.
10 Del. C. 6501 (declaratory judgment power)
Provides that courts of record within their respective jurisdictions have power to declare rights, status and other legal relations whether or not further relief is or could be claimed, and that such a declaration has the force and effect of a final judgment or decree. Delaware adverse possession petitions are commonly framed as declaratory judgment and quiet title petitions.
10 Del. C. 301 (where the Court of Chancery sits)
Provides that the Court of Chancery shall be held in New Castle County at Wilmington, in Kent County at Dover, and in Sussex County at Georgetown.
Delaware Judiciary: Jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery
The Delaware Judiciary's own description of the Court of Chancery's reach, stating that it has jurisdiction to hear and determine all matters and causes in equity and that its practice includes disputes involving the purchase and sale of land and questions of title to real estate, with jury issues capable of being sent to the Superior Court under 10 Del. C. 369.
Tumulty v. Schreppler, Del. Ch., C.A. No. 5948-VCP (March 30, 2015)
A Court of Chancery post-trial opinion stating that in Delaware the prescribed period is twenty years under 10 Del. C. 7901, that the burden of proof is only a preponderance of the evidence rather than clear and convincing evidence, and that the elements are open and notorious, hostile and adverse, exclusive, actual possession, continuous for twenty years. It also reasons that attempts to shore up one's own title do not effect an ouster or toll the limitation period.
Regional Variances
Delaware adverse possession rules at a glance
Statutory period
Twenty years. No person shall make an entry into any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, but within 20 years next after the person's right or title to the same first descended or accrued (10 Del. C. 7901), and only an actual seisin within those 20 years may be alleged (10 Del. C. 7902).
Property taxes
Irrelevant. Delaware imposes no tax payment element and no tax-based shortening of the period. The word tax does not appear anywhere in 10 Del. C. 7901 through 7904. Tax payment may show up in the evidence of how land was used, but it is not a requirement and does not substitute for any element.
Elements
Five, as the Court of Chancery states them: open and notorious, hostile and adverse, exclusive, actual possession, and continuous for twenty years. Open and notorious means the possession must be public so the owner and others have notice. A use is adverse or hostile if it is inconsistent with the rights of the owner.
Burden of proof
A preponderance of the evidence, which the Court of Chancery has itself described as surprisingly low given that it is not clear and convincing evidence.
Colour of title
No effect on the period. Delaware's chapter contains no colour of title category and no shorter alternative period for a possessor holding a written instrument, judgment or decree.
Acreage cap
None. The word acre does not appear in 10 Del. C. chapter 79. A reported Court of Chancery claim to nearly fifteen acres of woodland was sustained, so acreage alone is not the obstacle.
How an owner stops the clock
There is no statutory notice or recording procedure in Delaware. Title is tried in court: a civil action in ejectment is begun by filing with the prothonotary of the county where the lands lie, and any actual occupant must be named as a defendant (10 Del. C. 6701). The Court of Chancery has reasoned that merely shoring up one's own title does not oust a possessor or toll the period.
Owner under a disability
Ten extra years. An owner who was an infant, mentally ill or imprisoned when the right first accrued may enter or sue within ten years after the disability is removed, notwithstanding the twenty years (10 Del. C. 7903), and successors claiming under a person who died under the disability get the same benefit (10 Del. C. 7904).
State owned land
Barred by statute. No title or other interest in real property belonging to the State may be acquired by adverse possession, presumed grant or any means other than a deed or other written instrument of transfer executed by a duly authorized State official (7 Del. C. 4519). A losing claimant can be charged with the State's full costs unless the claim had substantial merit (7 Del. C. 4520).
Perfecting title
A petition for declaratory judgment and to quiet title in the Court of Chancery, which has jurisdiction over all matters and causes in equity and hears questions of title to real estate (10 Del. C. 341), sitting in New Castle County at Wilmington, Kent County at Dover and Sussex County at Georgetown (10 Del. C. 301).
Frequently Asked Questions
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