S-0205.1/91 _______________________________________________
SENATE BILL 5362
_______________________________________________
State of Washington 52nd Legislature 1991 Regular Session
By Senators Rasmussen, McCaslin and Roach.
Read first time January 29, 1991. Referred to Committee on Law & Justice.
AN ACT Relating to real property; amending RCW 4.16.020, 7.28.010, 7.28.050, 7.28.070, and 7.28.080; adding a new section to chapter 7.28 RCW; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. RCW 4.16.020 and 1989 c 360 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
The period prescribed for the commencement of actions shall be as follows:
Within
((ten)) twenty years:
(1)
For actions for the recovery of real property, or for the recovery of the
possession thereof; and no action shall be maintained for such recovery unless
it appears that the plaintiff, his ancestor, predecessor or grantor was seized
or possessed of the premises in question within ((ten)) twenty
years before the commencement of the action.
(2) For an action upon a judgment or decree of any court of the United States, or of any state or territory within the United States, or of any territory or possession of the United States outside the boundaries thereof, or of any extraterritorial court of the United States.
(3) Of
the eighteenth birthday of the youngest child named in the order for whom
support is ordered for an action to collect past due child support that has
accrued under an order entered after ((the effective date of this act)) July
23, 1989, by any of the above-named courts or that has accrued under an
administrative order as defined in RCW 74.20A.020(6)((, which is))
issued after ((the effective date of this act)) July 23, 1989.
Sec. 2. RCW 7.28.010 and 1911 c 83 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
Any
person having a valid subsisting interest in real property, and a right to the
possession thereof, may recover the same by action in the superior court of the
proper county, to be brought against the tenant in possession; if there is no
such tenant, then against the person claiming the title or some interest
therein, and may have judgment in such action quieting or removing a cloud from
plaintiff's title; an action to quiet title may be brought by the known heirs
of any deceased person, or of any person presumed in law to be deceased, or by
the successors in interest of such known heirs against the unknown heirs of
such deceased person or against such person presumed to be deceased and his
unknown heirs, and if it shall be made to appear in such action that the
plaintiffs are heirs of the deceased person, or the person presumed in law to
be deceased, or the successors in interest of such heirs, and have been in
possession of the real property involved in such action for ((ten)) twenty
years preceding the time of the commencement of such action, and that during
said time no person other than the plaintiff in the action or his grantors has
claimed or asserted any right or title or interest in said property, the court
may adjudge and decree the plaintiff or plaintiffs in such action to be the
owners of such real property, free from all claims of any unknown heirs of such
deceased person, or person presumed in law to be deceased; and an action to
quiet title may be maintained by any person in the actual possession of real
property against the unknown heirs of a person known to be dead, or against any
person where it is not known whether such person is dead or not, and against
the unknown heirs of such person, and if it shall thereafter transpire that
such person was at the time of commencing such action dead the judgment or
decree in such action shall be as binding and conclusive on the heirs of such
person as though they had been known and named; and in all actions, under this
section, to quiet or remove a cloud from the title to real property, if the
defendant be absent or a nonresident of this state, or cannot, after due
diligence, be found within the state, or conceals himself to avoid the service
of summons, service may be made upon such defendant by publication of summons
as provided by law; and the court may appoint a trustee for such absent or
nonresident defendant, to make or cancel any deed or conveyance of whatsoever
nature, or do any other act to carry into effect the judgment or the decree of
the court.
Sec. 3. RCW 7.28.050 and 1893 c 11 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
That
all actions brought for the recovery of any lands, tenements or hereditaments
of which any person may be possessed by actual, open and notorious possession
for ((seven)) fifteen successive years, having a connected title
in law or equity deducible of record from this state or the United States, or
from any public officer, or other person authorized by the laws of this state
to sell such land for the nonpayment of taxes, or from any sheriff, marshal or
other person authorized to sell such land on execution or under any order,
judgment or decree of any court of record, shall be brought within ((seven))
fifteen years next after possession being taken as aforesaid, but when
the possessor shall acquire title after taking such possession, the limitation
shall begin to run from the time of acquiring title.
Sec. 4. RCW 7.28.070 and 1893 c 11 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
Every
person in actual, open and notorious possession of lands or tenements under
claim and color of title, made in good faith, and who shall for ((seven))
fifteen successive years continue in possession, and shall also during
said time pay all taxes legally assessed on such lands or tenements, shall be
held and adjudged to be the legal owner of said lands or tenements, to the
extent and according to the purport of his or her paper title. All persons
holding under such possession, by purchase, devise or descent, before said ((seven))
fifteen years shall have expired, and who shall continue such possession
and continue to pay the taxes as aforesaid, so as to complete the possession
and payment of taxes for the term aforesaid, shall be entitled to the benefit
of this section.
Sec. 5. RCW 7.28.080 and 1893 c 11 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:
Every
person having color of title made in good faith to vacant and unoccupied land,
who shall pay all taxes legally assessed thereon for ((seven)) fifteen
successive years, he or she shall be deemed and adjudged to be the legal owner
of said vacant and unoccupied land to the extent and according to the purport
of his or her paper title. All persons holding under such taxpayer, by
purchase, devise or descent, before said ((seven)) fifteen years
shall have expired, and who shall continue to pay the taxes as aforesaid, so as
to complete the payment of said taxes for the term aforesaid, shall be entitled
to the benefit of this section: PROVIDED, HOWEVER, If any person having a
better paper title to said vacant and unoccupied land shall, during the said
term of ((seven)) fifteen years, pay the taxes as assessed on
said land for any one or more years of said term of ((seven)) fifteen
years, then and in that case such taxpayer, his heirs or assigns, shall not be
entitled to the benefit of this section.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. A new section is added to chapter 7.28 RCW to read as follows:
In any action under this chapter for adverse possession, the court shall award any prevailing defendant his or her reasonable attorneys' fees.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. Sections 1 through 6 of this act shall apply only to actions commenced after the effective date of this act.