Adverse Possession in South Carolina: Ten Years Against a Presumption
Reviewed by DocDraft Legal Team · South Carolina · Last updated October 5, 2026
Long occupation of ground that belongs to somebody else can end in owning it, and that shift of title is the doctrine of adverse possession, available once every statutory requirement has been met for the full statutory period. South Carolina sets that period at ten years, and starts from a presumption that runs against the occupier. The person who establishes legal title is presumed to have been in possession, and occupation by anyone else is deemed to have been under and in subordination to that legal title unless the premises have been held and possessed adversely for ten years before the action began (S.C. Code 15-67-210). An individual's action to recover real property carries the same ten year limit (S.C. Code 15-3-340). Where South Carolina gets genuinely harder is shared ownership. The South Carolina Court of Appeals records that ouster is presumed from possession only if it is continued for a period of twenty years, and that title by ten years' adverse possession by one cotenant against another may be acquired only after actual ouster of which the other has notice, or should have with reasonable diligence. A former tenant faces its own clock: the tenant's possession is deemed the landlord's until ten years after the tenancy ends, or ten years after a refusal to pay rent where there was no written lease (S.C. Code 15-67-260). Property taxes are not part of any of this. The adverse possession article never mentions them, and there is no acreage cap. Claims do not run against the State or its political subdivisions. Attorney review is available through DocDraft.
Find out where you stand in South Carolina
Which side of the boundary question are you on?
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How long does adverse possession take in South Carolina?
Ten years. Occupation by someone other than the record title holder is deemed to have been under and in subordination to the legal title unless the premises have been held and possessed adversely for ten years before the action began (S.C. Code 15-67-210). The limit on an owner's recovery action is also ten years (15-3-340).
Where do property taxes fit into a South Carolina adverse possession claim?
No. The South Carolina article on possession and adverse possession, sections 15-67-210 through 15-67-260, contains no reference to property taxes, and neither does the article setting limitation periods for actions to recover real property. For a claim without a written instrument, the statute lists two qualifying cases only, and taxes are not among them.
Can one co-owner claim a whole South Carolina property from the other co-owners?
Not on possession alone. The South Carolina Court of Appeals records that ouster is presumed from possession only if continued for twenty years, and that title by ten years' adverse possession by a cotenant against another may be acquired only after actual ouster of which the other has notice, or should have with reasonable diligence.
Does adverse possession run against public land in South Carolina?
No. The South Carolina Court of Appeals, quoting the Supreme Court of South Carolina in Davis v. Monteith, states that adverse possession does not run against the State or its duly constituted political subdivisions. Separately, the statutes limit the State's own suits over real property to a twenty year window (S.C. Code 15-3-310).
South Carolina adverse possession at a glance
Adverse possession is the doctrine under which someone who occupies land belonging to another can end up owning it, once every requirement has been met for the statutory period. South Carolina puts the period at ten years and frames the test as rebutting a presumption: the holder of legal title is presumed to have been in possession, and anyone else's occupation is deemed subordinate to that title until ten years of adverse possession is shown (S.C. Code 15-67-210). The courts require the claimant to prove adverse possession by clear and convincing evidence. Two further South Carolina presumptions shape real disputes. A tenant's possession stays the landlord's for ten years past the tenancy (15-67-260), and between co-owners the courts presume ouster from possession only after twenty years. Taxes are not an element, and no acreage cap exists.
A Colleton County family tract where fifteen years of farming still is not enough
Picture twelve acres near the ACE Basin that passed intestate in 1998, leaving six siblings with undivided interests and no deed dividing anything. One branch of the family has fenced and row cropped the upland portion since 2010, paid for the fencing, and kept everyone else off it. Fifteen years comfortably exceeds the ten in S.C. Code 15-67-210. The obstacle is who they are claiming against. Because they hold as cotenants, the South Carolina Court of Appeals records that ouster is presumed from possession only after twenty years, and that a cotenant acquires title by ten years' adverse possession only after actual ouster of which the other cotenants have notice, or should have with reasonable diligence. Whether these facts amount to ouster is for the Court of Common Pleas.
Relevant Laws
S.C. Code 15-67-210 (presumption of possession)
Provides that in every action for the recovery of real property or its possession, the person establishing legal title is presumed to have been possessed of the premises within the time required by law, and that occupation by any other person is deemed to have been under and in subordination to the legal title unless the premises have been held and possessed adversely to that legal title for ten years before the action began.
S.C. Code 15-67-220 (occupation under a written instrument, decree or judgment)
Provides that where the occupant or those under whom he claims entered into possession under claim of title founded on a written instrument as a conveyance, or on the decree or judgment of a competent court, and there has been continued occupation and possession of the premises or some part of them for ten years, the premises included in the instrument are deemed held adversely, except that where they consist of a tract divided into lots, possession of one lot is not possession of any other lot of the same tract.
S.C. Code 15-67-230 (qualifying possession under an instrument)
Lists the cases in which land is deemed possessed and occupied for a claim founded on a written instrument, judgment or decree: usual cultivation or improvement; protection by a substantial enclosure; use, although not enclosed, for the supply of fuel or of fencing timber, for husbandry or for the ordinary use of the occupant; and a known farm or single lot partly improved, where the uncleared or unenclosed portion counts for the same length of time as the improved part.
S.C. Code 15-67-240 and 15-67-250 (claims without a written instrument)
Provide that where there has been actual continued occupation under a claim of title exclusive of any other right, but not founded on a written instrument, judgment or decree, the premises so actually occupied and no other are deemed held adversely; and that for such a claim land is deemed possessed in the following cases only, namely where it has been protected by a substantial enclosure and where it has been usually cultivated or improved.
S.C. Code 15-67-260 (landlord and tenant)
Provides that wherever the relation of landlord and tenant has existed, the possession of the tenant is deemed the possession of the landlord until ten years from the termination of the tenancy, or, where there has been no written lease, until ten years from the time of refusal to pay rent, notwithstanding that the tenant may have acquired another title or claimed to hold adversely, and that such presumptions are not made after those periods.
S.C. Code 15-67-10, 15-67-20 and 15-67-30 (action to determine adverse claims)
Allow any person in possession of real property, by himself or his tenant, or any person having or claiming title to vacant or unoccupied real property, to sue anyone who claims or who may or could claim an adverse estate, interest or lien, to determine that claim and the rights of the parties; limit a plaintiff in an action for recovery of real property to one action; and set out service by publication where the sheriff determines the defendant cannot be found in the county, reaching parties outside the State and unknown claimants.
S.C. Code 15-3-340 and 15-3-350 (ten year limits)
Provide that no action for the recovery of real property or of its possession may be maintained unless it appears the plaintiff, an ancestor, predecessor or grantor was seized or possessed of the premises within ten years before the action, and that no cause of action or defense founded on a title to real property is effectual unless the same ten year seisin or possession appears.
S.C. Code 15-3-310, 15-3-320 and 15-3-360 (State suits and entry)
Provide that the State will not sue over real property by reason of its own right or title unless that right accrued within twenty years or the State received the rents and profits within twenty years; hold a grantee under letters patent or a grant from the State to the same limit; and provide that no entry upon real estate is deemed sufficient or valid as a claim unless an action is commenced within one year after the entry and within ten years from when the right to enter accrued.
Fender v. Heirs at Law of Roger Smashum (S.C. Ct. App. Op. No. 3639)
Court of Appeals opinion stating that one claiming title to land by adverse possession has the burden of proving adverse possession by clear and convincing evidence, defining ouster as the actual turning out or keeping excluded of a party entitled to possession, and quoting Watson v. Little that ouster is presumed from possession only if continued for twenty years and that title by ten years' adverse possession by a cotenant against another may be acquired only after actual ouster of which the other has notice.
Hilton Head Plantation Property Owners' Association v. Donald (S.C. Ct. App. Op. No. 4272)
Court of Appeals opinion holding that where the State holds title to property, a claimant may not acquire it through a theory of adverse possession, quoting Davis v. Monteith, 289 S.C. 176, 345 S.E.2d 724 (1986), that adverse possession does not run against the State or its duly constituted political subdivisions.
South Carolina Judicial Branch: the Circuit Court
The South Carolina Judicial Branch explains that the Circuit Court is the State's court of general jurisdiction, that its civil court is the Court of Common Pleas and its criminal court the Court of General Sessions, and that the State is divided into sixteen judicial circuits.
Regional Variances
South Carolina adverse possession rules at a glance
Statutory period
Ten years. Occupation by anyone other than the holder of legal title is deemed subordinate to that title unless the premises were held and possessed adversely for ten years before the action (S.C. Code 15-67-210), and an owner's recovery action carries the same ten year limit (15-3-340).
Property taxes
Not an element and not a period shortener. Sections 15-67-210 through 15-67-260 contain no reference to taxes, and neither does the limitations article for actions to recover real property.
Standard of proof
Clear and convincing evidence, on the claimant. South Carolina appellate decisions state that one claiming title by adverse possession has the burden of proving it by clear and convincing evidence. The standard is judicial, not statutory.
Qualifying possession without an instrument
Two cases only, a substantial enclosure, or usual cultivation or improvement (S.C. Code 15-67-250), and only the premises actually occupied, and no other, are deemed held adversely (15-67-240).
Color of title
Does not shorten the ten years. A written instrument, decree or judgment extends the claim to the premises it includes, subject to the lots exception (15-67-220), and widens qualifying possession to four cases (15-67-230).
Co-owners and ouster
Ouster is presumed from possession only if continued for twenty years, and title by ten years' adverse possession by a cotenant against another may be acquired only after actual ouster of which the other has notice or should have with reasonable diligence, as recorded by the South Carolina Court of Appeals.
Former tenants
The tenant's possession is deemed the landlord's until ten years from the termination of the tenancy, or ten years from the refusal to pay rent where there was no written lease, and those presumptions stop after those periods (S.C. Code 15-67-260).
Acreage cap
None. The word acre appears nowhere in the South Carolina adverse possession article or in the limitations article for actions to recover real property.
Government owned land
Excluded. Adverse possession does not run against the State or its duly constituted political subdivisions, per the Supreme Court of South Carolina in Davis v. Monteith as quoted by the Court of Appeals. Section 15-3-310 separately limits the State's own suits to a twenty year window and is not a route to acquiring State land.
Perfecting title
An action to determine adverse claims under S.C. Code 15-67-10, available to a person in possession or a person claiming title to vacant or unoccupied real property, heard in the Court of Common Pleas, with statutory service by publication for unknown claimants and parties outside the State (15-67-30).
Frequently Asked Questions
Other South Carolina guides
Asset Protection Planning in South Carolina (2026)
Dealing With Debt Collectors in South Carolina (2026)
Expunging a Criminal Record in South Carolina (2026)
Filing a Workplace Harassment Complaint in South Carolina
Filing Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in South Carolina (2026)
Firing an Employee in South Carolina (2026)
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