Adverse Possession in Georgia: Twenty Years, or Seven With Written Title
Reviewed by DocDraft Legal Team · Georgia · Last updated October 5, 2026
Georgia measures adverse possession in two very different numbers, and a single piece of paper decides which one applies to you. Adverse possession, which Georgia calls title by prescription, is the right to property a possessor acquires by reason of the continuance of possession for a period of time fixed by law (O.C.G.A. 44-5-160). Possessing land in a way that meets the statutory requirements for twenty years confers good title by prescription (O.C.G.A. 44-5-163). Possessing it under written evidence of title cuts that to seven (O.C.G.A. 44-5-164). Georgia's requirements number four: possession must be in the right of the possessor and not of another, must not have originated in fraud, must be public, continuous, exclusive, uninterrupted, and peaceable, and must be accompanied by a claim of right (O.C.G.A. 44-5-161(a)). Taxes are not on that list. In May 2025 the Supreme Court of Georgia noted that the court below had assumed maintenance plus payment of property taxes was insufficient to establish actual possession, and held that a recorded deed, by itself, cannot serve to establish both the notice and the land possession requirements of adverse possession by colour of title. What does count is actual possession, which Georgia says may be evidenced by enclosure, cultivation, or any use and occupation so notorious as to attract the attention of every adverse claimant and so exclusive as to prevent actual occupation by another (O.C.G.A. 44-5-165). A possessor perfects title by a verified quia timet petition in the superior court where the land lies. Attorney review is available through DocDraft.
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How long does title by prescription take in Georgia?
Twenty years without written evidence of title. Possession of real property meeting the requirements of O.C.G.A. 44-5-161 for twenty years confers good title by prescription (O.C.G.A. 44-5-163). With written evidence of title, the Supreme Court of Georgia has said prescriptive title may be acquired in as few as seven years (O.C.G.A. 44-5-164).
Do you have to pay property taxes to claim adverse possession in Georgia?
No. Georgia's statutory requirements are that possession be in the right of the possessor and not of another, not originate in fraud, be public, continuous, exclusive, uninterrupted, and peaceable, and be accompanied by a claim of right (O.C.G.A. 44-5-161(a)). Tax payment is not among them.
Is a recorded deed enough for a Georgia adverse possession claim?
No. In May 2025 the Supreme Court of Georgia answered that question in the negative, holding that a recorded deed, by itself, cannot serve to establish both the notice and the land possession requirements of adverse possession by colour of title. Actual possession of some part of the land is still required.
Which acts count as actual possession of land in Georgia?
Actual possession of lands may be evidenced by enclosure, cultivation, or any use and occupation of the lands which is so notorious as to attract the attention of every adverse claimant and so exclusive as to prevent actual occupation by another (O.C.G.A. 44-5-165).
Georgia adverse possession at a glance
Adverse possession lets a long-standing, open occupier of someone else's land end up owning it, and Georgia names the result title by prescription: the right to property a possessor acquires by reason of the continuance of possession for a period of time fixed by law (O.C.G.A. 44-5-160). Georgia fixes two periods. Twenty years for a possessor with no paper (O.C.G.A. 44-5-163), seven for one holding written evidence of title (O.C.G.A. 44-5-164), which the courts equate with colour of title, meaning any writing that on its face professes to pass title but does not. There is no tax element and no acreage cap. What there is, since May 2025, is a clear ruling that a recorded deed by itself cannot establish the land possession the shorter route requires.
Forty acres of cutover pine and a deed with a broken chain
Take a forty acre tract of cutover pine outside Vidalia, conveyed in 1999 under a deed whose chain of title breaks two owners back. The holder fenced about four acres at the road frontage and has grazed cattle there every season since, and he recorded his deed the year he got it. Georgia construes actual possession of part of a tract by a person with paper title to the whole as extending to the boundary of that tract (O.C.G.A. 44-5-166(a)), which puts the seven year route under written evidence of title in play (O.C.G.A. 44-5-164). Had he never set foot on the land, the recorded deed alone would not carry him, because the Supreme Court of Georgia held in May 2025 that a recorded deed cannot by itself establish the land possession requirement. Where these facts land is for the superior court.
Relevant Laws
O.C.G.A. 44-5-160 (nature of title by prescription)
Provides that title by prescription is the right to property which a possessor acquires by reason of the continuance of his possession for a period of time fixed by law. This is Georgia's own name for what adverse possession produces.
O.C.G.A. 44-5-161(a) (the four statutory requirements)
Provides that in order for possession to be the foundation of prescriptive title it must be in the right of the possessor and not of another, must not have originated in fraud except as provided in Code Section 44-5-162, must be public, continuous, exclusive, uninterrupted, and peaceable, and must be accompanied by a claim of right. The Supreme Court of Georgia set this subsection out in full in its May 2025 decision.
O.C.G.A. 44-5-163 (twenty years confers title)
Provides that possession of real property in conformance with the requirements of Code Section 44-5-161 for a period of 20 years shall confer good title by prescription to the property against everyone except the state and those persons laboring under the disabilities stated in Code Section 44-5-170.
O.C.G.A. 44-5-164 (seven years under written evidence of title)
Provides that possession of real property under written evidence of title in conformance with the requirements of Code Section 44-5-161 for a period of seven years shall confer good title by prescription against everyone except the state and those persons laboring under the disabilities stated in Code Section 44-5-170, with a proviso that no prescription may be based on possession where the written title is forged or fraudulent and the possessor had actual notice of the forgery or fraud when possession commenced.
O.C.G.A. 44-5-165 (how actual possession is evidenced)
Provides that actual possession of lands may be evidenced by enclosure, cultivation, or any use and occupation of the lands which is so notorious as to attract the attention of every adverse claimant and so exclusive as to prevent actual occupation by another.
O.C.G.A. 44-5-166 and 44-5-167 (constructive possession and its extent)
Section 44-5-166(a) provides that constructive possession of lands exists where a person who has paper title to a tract is in actual possession of only a part of it, in which case the possession is construed to extend to the boundary of the tract. Section 44-5-167 provides that possession under a duly recorded deed is construed to extend to all the contiguous property embraced in the deed.
O.C.G.A. 44-5-162 (effect of fraud on prescription)
Provides that for fraud to prevent possession from being the foundation of prescription the fraud must be actual or positive and not merely constructive or legal, and that where actual or positive fraud prevents or deters another party from acting, prescription does not run until the fraud is discovered.
O.C.G.A. 44-5-170 and 44-5-171 (disabilities)
Section 44-5-170 provides that prescription does not run against the rights of a minor during minority, a person incompetent by reason of mental illness or intellectual disability for as long as it lasts, or a person imprisoned during imprisonment, and that prescription runs once the disability is removed. Section 44-5-171 adds that on removal of the disability the prior possession may be tacked to the subsequent possession to make out the prescription.
O.C.G.A. 44-5-172 (tacking of successive possessions)
Provides that an inchoate prescriptive title may be transferred by a person in possession to his successor so that successive possessions may be tacked to make out the prescription.
O.C.G.A. 23-3-60 and 23-3-61 (quia timet against all the world)
Section 23-3-60 states the purpose of the procedure: removing any cloud on the title to land and conclusively establishing who owns every interest in it, so that land in Georgia is not unmarketable because of uncertainty. Section 23-3-61 lets a person claiming a freehold estate, or a term of years with at least five years unexpired, bring a proceeding in rem against all the world, whether or not in actual and peaceable possession and whether or not the land is vacant.
O.C.G.A. 23-3-62 (how the petition is filed and what goes with it)
Requires the proceeding to be instituted by filing a petition in the superior court of the county where the land is situated, requires the petition to be verified and to state whether the petitioner's interest is based upon a written instrument or adverse possession or both, requires a plat of survey of the land and copies of the relevant instruments to be filed with it, and requires a lis pendens notice to be filed contemporaneously with the clerk.
O.C.G.A. 23-3-63 (special master)
Requires the court, on receipt of the petition with the plat and instruments, to submit it to a special master who must be authorized to practice law in Georgia and must be a resident of the judicial circuit where the action is brought.
Brownphil, LLC v. Cudjoe, 321 Ga. 548 (May 13, 2025)
The Supreme Court of Georgia's decision holding that a recorded deed, by itself, cannot serve to establish both the notice and the land possession requirements of adverse possession by colour of title, because constructive possession under O.C.G.A. 44-5-166 requires actual possession of at least some portion of the property the deed encompasses. The opinion sets out O.C.G.A. 44-5-161(a) in full and quotes sections 44-5-160, 44-5-165, 44-5-166(a) and 44-5-167.
Regional Variances
Georgia adverse possession rules at a glance
Statutory period without written title
Twenty years. Possession of real property in conformance with the requirements of O.C.G.A. 44-5-161 for a period of 20 years confers good title by prescription against everyone except the state and persons under the disabilities stated in O.C.G.A. 44-5-170 (O.C.G.A. 44-5-163).
Statutory period with written title
Seven years. Possession under written evidence of title, in conformance with the same requirements, confers good title by prescription in seven years (O.C.G.A. 44-5-164). The Supreme Court of Georgia describes this as acquiring prescriptive title in as few as seven years.
Property taxes
Irrelevant as a requirement. There is no tax element in O.C.G.A. 44-5-161(a) and no tax-based shortening of either period. The Supreme Court of Georgia's May 2025 decision records that the court below had assumed maintenance of the property plus payment of property taxes was insufficient to establish actual possession.
Elements
Four. Possession must be in the right of the possessor and not of another, must not have originated in fraud except as provided in O.C.G.A. 44-5-162, must be public, continuous, exclusive, uninterrupted, and peaceable, and must be accompanied by a claim of right (O.C.G.A. 44-5-161(a)).
What actual possession looks like
Enclosure, cultivation, or any use and occupation of the lands which is so notorious as to attract the attention of every adverse claimant and so exclusive as to prevent actual occupation by another (O.C.G.A. 44-5-165). Georgia courts describe possession as corporeal control, a state of actual occupancy, evidenced by things capable of being seen.
Colour of title
Shortens the period from twenty years to seven. Written evidence of title means colour of title, any writing that on its face professes to pass title but does not, either from want of title in the person making it or from the defective conveyance used. A forged or fraudulent written title, where the possessor had actual notice at the start, supports no prescription at all (O.C.G.A. 44-5-164).
A recorded deed on its own
Not enough. Since May 2025 the rule is that a recorded deed, by itself, cannot serve to establish both the notice and the land possession requirements of adverse possession by colour of title, because constructive possession requires actual possession of at least some portion of the land within the bounds of the deed.
Acreage cap
None. Georgia's prescription article sets no acreage figure. The limit is a boundary limit: actual possession of part of a tract by a person with paper title to the whole extends to the boundary of that tract (O.C.G.A. 44-5-166(a)), and possession under a duly recorded deed extends to all the contiguous property embraced in the deed (O.C.G.A. 44-5-167).
Owner under a disability
The clock does not run at all. Prescription does not run against a minor during minority, a person incompetent by reason of mental illness or intellectual disability while it lasts, or a person imprisoned during imprisonment, and runs only once the disability is removed (O.C.G.A. 44-5-170, 44-5-171).
Tacking
Allowed. An inchoate prescriptive title may be transferred by a person in possession to a successor, so that successive possessions may be tacked to make out the prescription (O.C.G.A. 44-5-172).
State owned land
Excepted. Both period sections confer title by prescription against everyone except the state and persons under the stated disabilities (O.C.G.A. 44-5-163, 44-5-164). The statutory carve-out names the state, and no separate provision covering county or municipal land was located.
Perfecting title
A quia timet proceeding in rem against all the world. A verified petition in the superior court of the county where the land is situated, stating whether the interest rests on a written instrument or adverse possession or both, filed with a plat of survey and a lis pendens notice, then submitted to a special master who is a Georgia lawyer resident in that judicial circuit (O.C.G.A. 23-3-61, 23-3-62, 23-3-63).
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