Colorado Adverse Possession: 18 Years, or 7 Years With Color of Title and Taxes

Under Colo. Rev. Stat. § 38-41-101, an owner generally must bring an action to recover possession within eighteen years, the period an adverse possessor must hold the land to perfect a claim. Section 38-41-108 shortens this where the claimant has color of title made in good faith: "Every person in the actual possession of lands or tenements, under claim and color of title, made in good faith, who for seven successive years continues in such possession and also during said time pays all taxes legally assessed on such lands or tenements shall be held and adjudged to be the legal owner." Mere squatters without these elements have no possessory right; an owner removes them through the forcible entry and detainer process or a trespass/criminal complaint rather than self-help.

A squatter who has not satisfied the statutory adverse-possession elements is an unlawful occupant subject to removal through an eviction (FED) action under Title 13, Article 40, or trespass and criminal remedies. Owners generally may not use self-help lockouts; they must proceed through the courts. No statutory monetary penalty attaches to the adverse-possession claim itself.