S-3818.2  _______________________________________________

                         SENATE BILL 6323

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      55th Legislature     1998 Regular Session

By Senators Roach, Long, Heavey, Swecker, Snyder, McCaslin, Goings and Rasmussen

Read first time 01/15/98.  Referred to Committee on Law & Justice.

Clarifying the law of adverse possession affecting forest land.

    AN ACT Relating to adverse possession affecting forest land; and adding a new section to chapter 7.28 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 7.28 RCW to read as follows:

    (1) In any action seeking to establish an adverse claimant as the legal owner of a fee or other interest in forest land based on a claim of adverse possession, and in any defense to an action brought by the holder of record title for recovery of title or possession to a fee or other interest in forest land where such defense is based on a claim of adverse possession, the court shall not find the adverse claimant to have established open and notorious possession of the forest lands at issue unless the adverse claimant establishes by clear and convincing evidence that the adverse claimant has made or erected substantial improvements on such lands and has made continuous use of such improvements for at least ten years.  The court may find the making, erecting, and continuous use of substantial improvements on the lands at issue, in the absence of additional acts by the adverse claimant, insufficient to establish open and notorious possession.

    (2) For purposes of this section:

    (a) "Forest land" has the meaning given to that term in RCW 84.33.100;

    (b) "Adverse claimant" means any person, other than the holder of record title, occupying the lands at issue, together with any prior occupants of the land in privity with that person by purchase, devise, or descent;

    (c) "Substantial improvement" means a permanent or semipermanent structure or enclosure for which the cost of construction on the lands at issue exceeded fifty thousand dollars; and

    (d) A "claim of adverse possession" does not include a claim asserted under RCW 7.28.050, 7.28.070, or 7.28.080.

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