Adverse Possession in Mississippi: Ten Years and the Chancery Clerk Notice
Reviewed by DocDraft Legal Team · Mississippi · Last updated October 5, 2026
Mississippi hands the record owner a cheap defence that most states do not: a written notice filed with the chancery clerk. Adverse possession itself is the process by which a person occupying land that belongs to somebody else ends up owning it, and Mississippi gives that process ten years. The statutory wording is affirmative rather than defensive. Ten years' actual adverse possession by any person claiming to be the owner for that time of any land, uninterruptedly continued for ten years by occupancy, descent, conveyance, or otherwise, in whatever way such occupancy may have commenced or continued, shall vest in every actual occupant or possessor of such land a full and complete title (Miss. Code Ann. 15-1-13(1)). Then comes subsection (2). For claims not matured as of July 1, 1998, subsection (1) does not apply to a landowner on whose property a fence or driveway has been built who files with the chancery clerk, within the ten years, a written notice that the fence or driveway was built without the landowner's permission. The clerk files that notice in the land records with a description of the property. Mississippi then asks for six elements, each by clear and convincing evidence: under claim of ownership, actual or hostile, open, notorious and visible, continuous and uninterrupted for ten years, exclusive, and peaceful. Nothing in the statute requires the occupant to pay taxes, although Mississippi courts treat payment as very important and strong evidence of a claim of title. Title vests when the ten years close, and a possessor confirms it by a bill in chancery court that deraigns title (Miss. Code Ann. 11-17-29 and 11-17-35). Attorney review is available through DocDraft.
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Which side of the boundary question are you on?
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How long does adverse possession take in Mississippi?
Ten years. Miss. Code Ann. 15-1-13(1) provides that ten years' actual adverse possession by any person claiming to be the owner for that time of any land, uninterruptedly continued for ten years by occupancy, descent, conveyance or otherwise, vests in every actual occupant or possessor a full and complete title.
Do you have to pay the property taxes to claim adverse possession in Mississippi?
No. Miss. Code Ann. 15-1-13 contains no tax payment requirement. Mississippi courts treat payment as evidence rather than an element, holding that payment of taxes is very important and strong evidence of a claim of title, a formulation drawn from McCaughn v. Young, 85 Miss. 277 (1909).
Can a Mississippi landowner block a fence or driveway claim by filing a notice?
Miss. Code Ann. 15-1-13(2) provides that for claims not matured as of July 1, 1998, subsection (1) does not apply to a landowner on whose property a fence or driveway has been built who files with the chancery clerk, within the ten years, a written notice that it was built without permission.
Can land owned by the State of Mississippi be taken by adverse possession?
No. Statutes of limitation in civil causes do not run against the State, or any subdivision or municipal corporation of it (Miss. Const. art. 4, section 104). The Mississippi Supreme Court has said that since 1890 Section 104 has forbidden adverse possession against the State.
Mississippi adverse possession at a glance
Adverse possession describes what happens when occupation of someone else's land runs long enough and openly enough that the law moves ownership to the occupant. Mississippi puts the period at ten years and words the result as a grant rather than a bar, vesting a full and complete title in the actual occupant (Miss. Code Ann. 15-1-13(1)). Six elements carry the claim, each needing clear and convincing evidence: under claim of ownership, actual or hostile, open, notorious and visible, continuous and uninterrupted for ten years, exclusive, and peaceful. The record owner's counter is unusually simple. Where a fence or driveway sits on the owner's land, a written notice filed with the chancery clerk inside the ten years takes subsection (1) off the table (Miss. Code Ann. 15-1-13(2)).
A gravel driveway in Lamar County and a notice at the clerk's window
The driveway is what makes this a Mississippi problem rather than a generic one. Suppose a gravel drive poured in 2014 clips roughly twelve feet of the adjoining lot, and the household has used it daily since, graded it, and treated the strip as theirs. In 2019, still inside the ten years, the record owner walks a written notice into the chancery clerk's office stating the driveway was built without permission, and the clerk files it in the land records with a description of the ground. Miss. Code Ann. 15-1-13(2) says subsection (1) does not apply to that landowner. The occupant's unpaid tax bills are beside the point, because Mississippi has no tax element. What the notice does to this claim is for the chancellor to decide.
Relevant Laws
Miss. Code Ann. 15-1-13 (ten years' adverse possession gives title)
Provides that ten years' actual adverse possession by any person claiming to be the owner for that time of any land, uninterruptedly continued for ten years by occupancy, descent, conveyance or otherwise, vests in every actual occupant or possessor a full and complete title, saving persons under the disability of minority or unsoundness of mind, with that saving never extending longer than thirty one years. Subsection (2) provides that for claims not matured as of July 1, 1998, subsection (1) does not apply to a landowner on whose property a fence or driveway has been built who files a written notice with the chancery clerk within the ten years, and that failure to file the notice creates no inference that the property has been adversely possessed.
Miss. Const. art. 4, section 104 (limitations do not run against the State)
Provides that statutes of limitation in civil causes shall not run against the State, or any subdivision or municipal corporation of it. The Mississippi Supreme Court has read this provision as forbidding adverse possession against the State since 1890, including as to sixteenth section school trust land.
Miss. Code Ann. 15-1-15 (three years' occupation after a tax collector's sale)
Provides that actual occupation for three years, after two years from the day of sale of land held under a conveyance by a tax collector in pursuance of a sale for taxes, bars any suit to recover the land or to assail the title because of any defect in the sale of the land for taxes. This is a curative limitation protecting a tax sale purchaser, not a shortened adverse possession period.
Miss. Code Ann. 11-17-29 (bill to confirm and quiet title)
Allows the owner in possession of any land, or the owner out of possession if there is no adverse occupancy, to file a bill in the chancery court to have title confirmed and quieted, applies the notice, process and practice used for confirming tax titles, allows unknown and nonresident parties to be made defendants, and provides that a decree satisfying the court that the complainant is the real owner is conclusive evidence of title from the date of the decree as against all parties defendant.
Miss. Code Ann. 11-17-35 (deraignment of title and recording the decree)
Requires the complainant in a bill to confirm title or remove clouds to set forth in plain and concise language the deraignment of title, allows a sixty year deraignment where title passed out of the sovereign more than seventy five years before filing, holds that a mere statement of ownership is insufficient absent good and valid reason, and requires final decrees in the complainant's favor to be recorded in the record of deeds and indexed as if a conveyance from each defendant to the complainant.
Miss. Code Ann. 11-17-37 (chancery court jurisdiction)
Provides that in suits to try title, to cancel deeds and other clouds upon title, and to confirm title to real estate, the chancery court has jurisdiction to decree possession and to displace possession, and to decree rents and compensation for improvements and taxes, and may grant relief even where the legal remedy has not been exhausted or legal title established at law.
Signaigo v. Grinstead, Miss. Ct. App. No. 2022-CA-01212-COA (May 21, 2024)
A Hancock County appeal that quotes Miss. Code Ann. 15-1-13(1) in full, restates the six part test, confirms the clear and convincing burden, and affirms summary judgment against the claimants because they could not prove the claim of ownership element over ten years.
Mississippi Supreme Court No. 2020-CA-00331-SCT (when title vests)
Quotes Miss. Code Ann. 15-1-13(1) and the Levy v. Campbell rule that the statute invests the adverse occupant on completion of the statutory period with a new and independent title to every estate in the land, not derived from or in privity with any former owner, and usable both defensively and as a basis to confirm or quiet title.
Mississippi Court of Appeals No. 2017-CA-01347-COA (the six elements and permission)
Sets out the six part test from Powell v. Meyer and Walker v. Murphree, states the clear and convincing burden from Massey v. Lambert, and holds that the adverse possessor must hold the property without the permission of the true title owner because permission defeats adverse possession.
Castens v. Haywood, Miss. Ct. App. No. 2007-CA-00438-COA (taxes as evidence)
Applies the six elements to a Rankin County boundary dispute and states that in regard to a claim of adverse possession, payment of taxes is very important and strong evidence of a claim of title, quoting McCaughn v. Young, 85 Miss. 277 (1909). Useful for showing that Mississippi weighs tax payment as proof rather than treating it as a requirement.
Regional Variances
Mississippi adverse possession rules at a glance
Statutory period
Ten years. Ten years' actual adverse possession by a person claiming to be the owner, uninterruptedly continued by occupancy, descent, conveyance or otherwise, vests a full and complete title in the actual occupant or possessor (Miss. Code Ann. 15-1-13(1)).
Property taxes
Not an element and not a shortener. Miss. Code Ann. 15-1-13 says nothing about paying taxes. Mississippi courts weigh payment as very important and strong evidence of a claim of title, which makes it proof rather than a precondition.
The chancery clerk notice
The record owner's statutory counter. For claims not matured as of July 1, 1998, subsection (1) does not apply to a landowner on whose property a fence or driveway has been built who files a written notice with the chancery clerk inside the ten years. Not filing creates no inference of adverse possession (Miss. Code Ann. 15-1-13(2)).
Elements
Six, by clear and convincing evidence: under claim of ownership, actual or hostile, open, notorious and visible, continuous and uninterrupted for ten years, exclusive, and peaceful. Possession must also be without the true owner's permission, because permission defeats adverse possession.
When title vests
On completion of the ten years. The statute invests the occupant with a new and independent title to every estate in the land, not derived from or in privity with any former owner, usable defensively and as a basis to confirm or quiet title.
Color of title
No shortened period. One ten year clock applies whether or not the occupant holds a written instrument. The separate three year rule in Miss. Code Ann. 15-1-15 protects a purchaser under a tax collector's conveyance against attacks on the sale and is not an adverse possession period.
Acreage cap
None. Miss. Code Ann. 15-1-13 refers to any land with no quantity qualifier, and Miss. Code Ann. 11-17-29 through 11-17-37 contain no acreage figure.
Government owned land
Barred by the Constitution. Statutes of limitation in civil causes do not run against the State, or any subdivision or municipal corporation of it (Miss. Const. art. 4, section 104), which the Supreme Court has read as forbidding adverse possession against the State since 1890.
Perfecting title
A bill in chancery court to confirm and quiet title (Miss. Code Ann. 11-17-29), which must deraign the complainant's title in plain and concise language, with the final decree recorded in the record of deeds and indexed as a conveyance (Miss. Code Ann. 11-17-35).
Frequently Asked Questions
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