Also known as: mistaken boundaries
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A good-faith but erroneous belief about the location of a true property boundary that satisfies the hostility element of adverse possession and permits tacking of successive periods of possession.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Meredith Maxwell bought a lakeside cabin eight years ago and relied on an old subdivision map showing a wooden dock and shoreline strip as part of her lot. Each summer she rented the cabin with dock access, maintained the structure, and excluded others from the area. Her predecessors had used the same dock and strip every summer for twelve prior years under the identical map. When the true owner demanded removal, Meredith asserted title through adverse possession.
Miguel Mendoza leased a hillside parcel for summer music festivals and built a stage and concessions on a sixty-foot strip he believed belonged to his lessor. A predecessor promoter had run identical festivals on the same strip for two earlier summers under the same mistaken plat. After ten total years of seasonal use visible to the public, the record owner sued for ejectment.
Yes. The belief that the disputed strip lies within the claimant's own parcel supplies the claim of right that renders possession hostile to the true owner.
Supporting sources
Yes. Privity through conveyance or lease allows tacking so the combined periods satisfy the statutory duration.
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Yes. For vacation, garden, or festival property, regular seasonal occupation matches how a true owner would use the land and therefore counts as continuous.
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…to take irrespective of his right, which governs.” 7 Powell, supra , § 1013(2) at 91-17 (citations omitted).[^7] D. Mistaken Boundaries Claims of adverse possession frequently arise where, as here, an apparent misunderstanding as to the location of a property line is discovered many years after the fact. “The more widely…