Let’s say you just bought a house and the attached garage is technically on the neighbor’s property. The structure was built over 40 years ago, so the neighbor has been aware of this encroachment for a long time.
As a new owner, the statutory period doesn’t have to restart when you purchased the property. That means you can claim that the trespass began when the garage was built. 40 years is past the typically statutory period, so the neighbor-owner has forfeited his ownership of the property.