§ 325.Land Deemed Possessed and Occupied By Person Claiming Title Not Founded On Instrument Or Decree Or Judgment

Section 325 is the most important provision in this chapter for a modern adverse possession claim that does not rest on a deed or judgment. Subdivision (a) narrows § 323's broader list to two tests for this kind of claim: the land must have been protected by a substantial enclosure, or it must have been usually cultivated or improved.

Subdivision (b) adds a requirement that applies across the whole chapter, not just to claims under this section: adverse possession is never established under any section of this code unless the land has been occupied and claimed continuously for five years, and the claimant, or predecessors and grantors, timely paid all state, county, or municipal taxes levied and assessed on the land throughout that same five years. The statute requires that tax payment be proven with certified records from the county tax collector, not an affidavit, a receipt, or a witness's recollection.

That tax-payment requirement is often the deciding factor in a real adverse possession dispute. A claimant who meets every occupancy test but cannot produce five consecutive years of certified tax payments has not established adverse possession under California law.