6.3 Hostile

• Library: Real Estate Practice Deskbook (2019 Ed.)

B. (§6.3) Hostile

The second element that must be proved to establish adverse possession is that the possession is hostile or under claim of right. Under consistent Missouri caselaw,
to prove the "'hostile,' i.e. under a 'claim of right' element only requires that the adverse possessor show the intent to occupy the disputed property as his own, exclusive of the rights of all others." DeVore v. Vaughn, 504 S.W.3d 176, 181–82 (Mo. App. W.D. 2016). Naked possession alone is insufficient to ripen into adverse possession regardless of the period of time. Fiorella v. Jones, 259 S.W. 782, 786 (Mo. 1923); Heide v. Sheeks, 682 S.W.2d 877, 882 (Mo. App. S.D. 1984); see also Wilton Boat Club v. Hazell, 502 S.W.2d 273, 276 (Mo. 1973) (distinguishing between occupancy of land with intent to possess it and mere occasional use or "squatter's rights"). A person who settles on someone else's land without any legal authority is a squatter. A squatter is one who enters the land not claiming in good faith the right to do so by virtue of any title of the squatter's own or an agreement with another who the squatter thinks holds title. A squatter's rights are never considered adverse. Id.

When a family relationship exists between claimants or their predecessors, stronger evidence of adverse possession is generally...