HomeGuru. Thanks again for answering these questions. I really appreciate it and was hoping to get a basic understanding to determine if I should hire an attorney before we plant on the section of thier dirt path that runs onto our property.
I'll give you a little better understanding of where I've been getting these registration and tax requirements. I found a case study on the Minnesota State Judicial System web site:
http://www.courts.state.mn.us/video/inside/driveway.pdf
The case study claims the following regarding the time and tax element:
"The fifteen-year requirement for adverse possession is mandated by Minnesota Statute 541.02, which addresses the recovery of real estate.
541.02 Recover of real estate, 15 years
No action for the recovery of real estate or the possession thereof shall be maintained unless it appears that the plaintiff, the plaintiff's ancestor, predecessor, or grantor, was seized or possessed of the premises in question within 15 years before the beginning of the action.
Such limitations shall not be a bar to an action for the recovery of real estate assessed as tracts or parcels separate from other real estate, unless it appears that the party claiming title by adverse possession or the party's ancestor, predecessor, or grantor, or all of them together, shall have paid taxes on the real estate in question at least five consecutive years of the time during which the party claims these lands to have been occupied adversely.
The provisions of paragraph two shall not apply to actions relating to the boundary line of lands, which boundary lines are established by adverse possession, or to actions concerning lands included between the government or platted line and the line established by such adverse possession, or to lands not assessed for taxation."
The case study goes on to claim the following about a properly registered title:
"The remaining elements that must be proven in order to prevail in an adverse possession claim are defined and explained by Minnesota case law.
Before discussing Minnesota cases which address the elements required by adverse possession, it is important to note that if an owner of real property registers his or her title to the property by using the Torrens Title System, which results in a certificate of title to the land, that title cannot be affected by adverse possession. This is covered by Minnesota statute.
508.02 Registered land subject to same incidents as unregistered; adverse possession excepted
Registered land shall be subject to the same burdens and incidents which attach by law to unregistered land. This chapter shall not operate to relieve registered land or the owners thereof from any rights, duties, or obligations incident to or growing out of the marriage relation, or from liability to attachment on mesne process, or levy on execution, or from liability to any lien or charge of any description, created or established by law upon the land or the buildings situated thereon, or the interest of the owner in such land or buildings. It shall not operate to change the laws of descent or the rights of partition between cotenants, or the right to take the land by eminent domain. It shall not operate to relieve such land from liability to be taken or recovered by any assignee or receiver under any provision of law relative thereto, and shall not operate to change or affect any other rights, burdens, liabilities, or obligations created by law and applicable to unregistered land except as otherwise expressly provided herein. No title to registered land in derogation of that of the registered owner shall be acquired by prescription or by adverse possession.
Thanks again for all your help HomeGuru. I'd be interested to know what you think of all this.
