A NOT SO INFORMATIVE STORY ABOUT WHAT ADVERSE POSSESSION OF REAL ESTATE IS REALLY ABOUT

Adverse possession isn’t really about “squatting” on, or stealing, someone else’s land, even though it sounds like that’s essentially what happened in a case in Australia that was recently discussed at Lowering the Bar.  Adverse possession is really about, in my opinion, putting to rest uncertainty about ownership of land.  I have written about adverse possession from both angles:  it’s not really about stealing someone else’s land; it really is about resolving uncertainty as to ownership of land.  
It’s a subject that maybe only real estate lawyers care about.  Other people don’t care about it  until they discover that their neighbor is encroaching on their land.  Then, they care about it.