I was raised in a ranching town within a small HOA-regulated neighborhood. As a kid, I spent countless afternoons playing tennis on our neighborhood court. Just beyond the court stretched an open field that all the homeowners shared as common property. But the portion of the field closest to the court told a different story. One of our neighbors had enclosed it with a fence, built horse stables, and kept his horses there. He maintained the enclosure, controlled access to it, and used the space as if it were his own.

Who has the right to use a princess castle located in one’s backyard for their child, but used by another for housing? In the popular sitcom Modern Family, Mitchell and Cameron live in a two-unit apartment with their daughter Lily. The family lives in the lower unit with private access to backyard amenities, including a princess castle they built for their daughter and a hot tub. One day, they saw a stranger in their hot tub and confronted him to leave. The stranger introduced himself as Barry, informing the two that he had just moved in and thought he had access to the hot tub. Without asking any additional questions, the two welcomed Barry with open arms under their own belief that he moved in upstairs. They continuously asked him to join them for dinners and to consistently hang out in their home for Mitchell and Cameron’s benefit.

Imagine finding out that a person suddenly gains ownership of your property. This would send any person into a frenzy. But that is exactly what the doctrine of Adverse Possession allows. While it doesn’t frequently make headlines, Adverse Possession—sometimes referred to as “Squatter’s Rights”—is a growing concern among property owners nationwide. It essentially enables a non-owner to gain title to land or personal property after the owner fails to recover possession.

The sitcom television show Friends, follows a group of friends in their twenties living in New York City. Much of the show’s comedy stems from the group’s struggle to make money in NYC. A main character, Monica, was trying to make it as a chef, going through a variety of low paying jobs, like waitressing. However, much of the show is filmed in her large, two-bedroom, West Village apartment. It begs the question, how can a twenty-something waitress in NYC afford a huge West Village apartment? The answer was given when her landlord, Treeger, threatened to evict Monica because she was illegally subletting the apartment from her grandmother to keep a rent-controlled price. Monica had lived there for five years at this point and because she was never allowed to live in the apartment, was a trespasser. However, when Joey taught Treeger to ballroom dance, he let her continue to live there for over ten years. Does Monica have a claim for adverse possession?