by 
The Curious Bag
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While squatter's rights may seem like a relic of the 1800s, the term still has legal weight today. Although laws vary locally, squatting is one of the few ways to legally attain property for free.
History
Squatters in the United States gained their first legal rights in 1841 with the passage of the the Pre-Emption Act of 1841, which allowed people to buy unsurveyed land they lived on before the government claimed and sold it, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.
The Facts
Squatter's rights, also called "adverse possession," are a person's legal rights to land they do not own after using it for a certain period of time, depending on local and state laws, according to Aaron Larson of expertlaw.com.
Features
To gain squatter's rights in the U.S., the person must continuously and openly put the property to good use (i.e. look like surrounding properties) without permission from the true legal owner, reports Aaron Larson.
Time Frame
In general, states require that the squatter live on the land for 10 to 21 years, reports real estate adviser Steve McLinden of bankrate.com.
Significance
Most modern squatter's rights cases involve pieces of land that are incorrectly surveyed. A neighbor, for example, may have squatter's rights if his garden extends into another piece of property, according to bankrate.com.
Source:
Encyclopedia Britannica; Squatter's Rights
ExpertLaw.com; Adverse Possession; Larson, Aaron; 2004
Bank Rate; Can family claim squatter's rights?; McLinden, Steve; 2008
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