A new interpretative decision dated November 6, 2025, by the Supreme Court of Cassation addresses this question, and the short answer is “yes.” More specifically, the General Assembly of the Civil Division of the Supreme Court of Cassation adopted the following:
“The loss of possession of a property for a period exceeding six months by a person who claims that the statute of limitations has expired in favor of his or her predecessor in title does not prevent the property law effect of the statute of limitations from taking effect.”
What does that mean?
Acquisition of property by adverse possession:
Under certain conditions, a possessor may become the owner of a property after the expiration of a 10-year or 5-year statute of limitations.
The first condition is the exercise of actual control over the property with the intent to acquire ownership; the second is the expiration of the period specified by law (10 years in the case of possession in bad faith and 5 years in the case of possession in good faith).
The law imposes no restrictions on the persons who may invoke the statute of limitations, nor does it set a deadline for doing so. As a means of protecting the right to property, the statute of limitations may be invoked by any person claiming rights based on the expired acquisitive prescription: both by the possessor who has exercised possession during the period prescribed by law and has thereby acquired ownership, and by their successors in title, including heirs.
Even if possession of inherited property has been lost or taken away, but the required statute of limitations period has expired in favor of the decedent, an heir may invoke the statute of limitations and claim ownership. The court holds that after the expiration of the acquisitive prescription period, the actual control exercised by the possessor over the property no longer constitutes possession (possession as a factual state), but rather the exercise of one of the powers included in the right of ownership: the right to possess one’s own property. The loss of possession of property that is already owned for a period exceeding six months does not fall under the provisions of Article 81 of the Property Act, which addresses the interruption of the acquisitive prescription period upon the loss of possession of another’s property as a factual state.
