Category: Law and ownership

Usucapión (adverse possession)

A way of acquiring ownership of real estate through continuous, uninterrupted possession: 20 years with no need for title or good faith, or 10 years with just title and good faith.

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Usucapión (acquisitive prescription) is regulated by articles 1989 and 1990 of the Paraguayan Civil Code. The extraordinary route requires 20 years of uninterrupted, unopposed possession, with no need for title or good faith; the ordinary route, 10 years where there is just title and good faith. Possession must be exercised as an owner would: public, peaceful, and continuous — paying property tax, fencing, building, and maintaining the property are the typical evidence. It runs as a court case, and the judgment declaring usucapión serves as the title of ownership for registration in the Real Estate Registry, creating the matrícula in the possessor's name. A possessor may add their predecessors' possession time (key when buying a derechera). It does not run against public-domain state property.

Example

A family has occupied a plot for 25 years: they fenced it, built their house, and paid the property tax every year. With those receipts and witnesses they file the usucapión suit; the judgment is registered with the Public Registry and the matrícula is issued in their name — only from then on can they sell the property with title, or mortgage it.

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