Living in a family-owned house for decades does not by itself make it yours. When your use started with the owner’s permission, you must give the owner clear notice that you now claim the property as your own, and signing papers that admit the owner’s title can wipe out an earlier claim. The Appeals Court reversed a Land Court judgment that had awarded a farmhouse to a family member by adverse possession. This is an unpublished Appeals Court decision under Rule 23.0, which courts may cite as persuasive but not as binding precedent.
What happened
A farming family ran its business through several entities, including a close corporation that owned a fifteen acre tract with a farmhouse. Family members who worked in the business were given housing. In 1985 one of the brothers who ran the business moved his family into the farmhouse, and in 1990 the brothers deeded the property to the corporation, which paid the taxes, utilities and insurance. At a 1999 family meeting, that brother, the plaintiff’s father, refused to move and said the house was his. Yet in 2000 and 2006 he signed mortgages on the property as the corporation’s treasurer, stating that the corporation held good title and would defend it. The son, who grew up in the house, stayed on after his father moved out in 2007. When the corporation later sought to evict him, he sued in the Land Court, and the judge found he owned the house and the area around it by adverse possession.
What the court decided
The Appeals Court reversed that part of the judgment in Szawlowski v. Szawlowski Realty, Inc., No. 24-P-1107 (Mass. App. Ct. September 5, 2025) (Rule 23.0 decision), vacated the related injunction, and sent the case back for a new judgment. It otherwise affirmed, so the rest of the tract stayed with the corporation.
The basic test. To win title by adverse possession, you must prove actual, open, exclusive and nonpermissive use for a continuous period of twenty years. Totman v. Malloy, 431 Mass. 143 (2000). Whether use is nonpermissive depends on the circumstances, including how the land was held and maintained and the relationship between the parties.
A heavier burden when use starts with permission. If you first used the property with the owner’s permission, you carry a heavy burden to show by clear evidence that your use changed to adverse, putting the owner on clear notice to protect its rights. Begg v. Ganson, 34 Mass. App. Ct. 217 (1993). Where there is a special relationship between the parties, actual notice to the owner of the change is required. Lawrence v. Concord, 439 Mass. 416 (2003). The court treated the relationship between a close corporation and its shareholder and officer as that kind of special relationship.
The son’s own claim. The son was at the 1999 meeting but said nothing about his own position then, or at any time until 2008. The court held that his presence at the meeting and continued occupancy did not adopt his father’s statement or give the corporation clear notice of his own claim.
Adding the father’s time. A claimant can sometimes add, or tack, a predecessor’s adverse use to his own. AM Props., LLC v. J&W Summit Ave, LLC, 91 Mass. App. Ct. 150 (2017). But the father’s later conduct undid any 1999 claim. By signing mortgages that said the corporation owned the property and would defend its title, he abandoned his assertion that the house was his. Bodman v. Martha’s Vineyard Nat’l Bank, 330 Mass. 125 (1953). With no clear notice after those mortgages, the son had nothing to tack onto.
The court did not decide whether a shareholder of a close corporation can ever acquire the corporation’s land by adverse possession. It held only that, on these facts, neither father nor son held adversely for twenty years.
What this means for you
This decision shows how hard it is to turn an informal family arrangement into ownership. If you moved in with permission, years of living there, paying some bills and making repairs may not be enough. You need clear, provable notice to the owner that you now claim the property against it.
Be careful about documents you sign. Mortgages, deeds, tax filings and similar papers that say someone else owns the property can be used against a later adverse possession claim. An owner who wants to protect its title should keep records showing that the occupant’s use is by permission.
What to do now
- Write down when and how you started using the property, and whether anyone gave you permission.
- Collect proof of any clear statement or act showing the owner knew you claimed the property as your own, with dates.
- Gather every document you or a relative signed about the property, including mortgages, leases and corporate records.
- If you are the owner, put any permission in writing and keep paying taxes and insurance in your own name.
- If you receive an eviction notice or a claim of ownership, get legal advice promptly.
If this is your situation, call Doubleday Law at (617) 575-2006 or tell us what happened. These cases move on short deadlines.
