Legal Definitions - tacking

Definition: Tacking refers to the joining of consecutive periods of possession by different individuals to treat the periods as one continuous period. This is often used in cases of adverse possession, where a person adds their own period of land possession to that of a prior possessor to establish continuous adverse possession for the statutory period.

Example: John owned a piece of land for 5 years, but then sold it to Sarah. Sarah owned the land for 3 years before selling it to Tom. Tom owned the land for 2 years before selling it back to John. In this case, John can tack his previous 5 years of ownership onto his current ownership to establish continuous possession for the statutory period required for adverse possession.

Explanation: The example illustrates how tacking can be used to establish continuous possession for adverse possession. John's previous ownership of the land can be added to his current ownership to meet the statutory period required for adverse possession. This means that John can claim ownership of the land through adverse possession, even though he did not continuously own the land for the entire statutory period.