---
title: O.C.G.A. § 44-5-163. When adverse possession for 20 years confers title.
collection: code
id: 44-5-163
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 44-5-163 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-5-163
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-5-163.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-5-163/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t44-ch1-7-(v31)-2010-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=35dd922f_0#page=534
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-5.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-5-162.md
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index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: PROPERTY / ACQUISITION AND LOSS OF PROPERTY / PRESCRIPTION
---

# O.C.G.A. § 44-5-163. When adverse possession for 20 years confers title.

Possession of real property in conformance with the requirements of Code Section 44-5-161 for a period of 20 years shall confer good title by prescription to the property against everyone except the state and those persons laboring under the disabilities stated in Code Section 44-5-170.

## History

Laws 1767, Cobb’s 1851 Digest, p. 560; Code 1863, § 2641; Code 1868, § 2640; Code 1873, § 2682; Code 1882, § 2682; Civil Code 1895, § 3588; Civil Code 1910, § 4168; Code 1933, § 85-406.

## Cross References

Surveying and marking boundary lines of property possessed under claim of right for more than seven years, § 44-4-7. Presumption of grant from state upon 20 years’ possession of land under claim of right, § 44-5-14.

## Law Reviews

For article, ‘‘Some Aspects of the Law of Easements,’’ see 9 Ga. St. B.J. 287 (1973). For annual survey of real property law, see 57 Mercer L. Rev. 331 (2005). For survey article on local government law, see 59 Mercer L. Rev. 285 (2007).