§ 12-93 — Limitation of real actions.

Actions for the recovery of real property, or for the determination of any adverse right or interest therein, can only be brought within the periods hereinafter prescribed, after the cause of action shall have accrued, and at no other time thereafter: (1) An action for the recovery of real property sold on execution, or for the recovery of real estate partitioned by judgment in kind, or sold, or conveyed pursuant to partition proceedings, or other judicial sale, or an action for the recovery of real estate distributed under decree of district court in administration or probate proceedings, when brought by or on behalf of the execution debtor or former owner, or his or their heirs, or any person claiming under him or them by title acquired after the date of the judgment or by any person claiming to be an heir or devisee of the decedent in whose estate such decree was rendered, or claiming under, as successor in interest, any such heir or devisee, within five (5) years after the date of the recording of the deed made in pursuance of the sale or proceeding, or within five (5) years after the date of the entry of the final judgment of partition in kind where no sale is had in the partition proceedings; or within five (5) years after the recording of the decree of distribution rendered by the district court in an administration or probate proceeding; provided, however, that where any such action pertains to real estate distributed under decree of district court in administration or probate proceedings and would at the passage of this act be barred by the terms hereof, such action may be brought within one (1) year after the passage of this act; this proviso shall not be construed to revive any action barred by paragraph 4 of this section. (2) An action for the recovery of real property sold by executors, administrators, or guardians, upon an order or judgment of a court directing such sale, brought by the heirs or devisees of the deceased person, or the ward of his guardian, or any person claiming under any or either of them, by the title acquired after the date of judgment or order, within five (5) years after the date of recording of the deed made in pursuance of the sale. (3) An action for the recovery of real property sold for taxes, within five (5) years after the date of the recording of the tax deed, except where lands exempt from taxation by reason of any Act of the Congress of the United States of America have been sold for taxes, in which case there shall be no limitation; provided, nothing herein shall be construed as reviving any cause of action for recovery of real property heretofore barred nor as divesting any interest acquired by adverse possession prior to the effective date hereof. (4) An action for the recovery of real property not hereinbefore provided for, within fifteen (15) years. (5) An action for the forcible entry and detention or forcible detention only of real property, within two (2) years. (6) Numbered paragraphs 1, 2, and 3 shall be fully operative regardless of whether the deed or judgment or the precedent action or proceeding upon which such deed or judgment is based is void or voidable in whole or in part, for any reason, jurisdictional or otherwise; provided that this paragraph shall not be applied so as to bar causes of action which have heretofore accrued, until the expiration of one (1) year from and after its effective date.

Legislative History

R.L. 1910, § 4655. Amended by Laws 1945, p. 37, § 1; Laws 1949, p. 95, § 1; Laws 1961, p. 59, § 1, emerg. eff. July 26, 1961.