Wyoming Squatters Rights: Adverse Possession and How Removal Actually Works
How long adverse possession takes in Wyoming, whether there is a fast-track removal law, and what you legally can and cannot do about an unauthorized occupant. Last reviewed August 2026.
The question that decides everything: is the occupant a squatter or a tenant? Anyone who ever had permission to be there — a former tenant, someone who paid you rent even once, an ex-partner of your tenant on the lease — is generally a tenant in the law's eyes and must go through the eviction process. Wyoming's squatter rules below apply to true trespassers only.
How long does adverse possession take in Wyoming?
Wyoming's limitation on actions to recover real property is 10 years under Wyo. Stat. section 1-3-103, so an adverse possessor must show actual, open, notorious, exclusive, hostile, and continuous possession for a decade, with no color-of-title or tax-payment requirement. Wyoming courts presume possession is permissive in some neighbor contexts, and the claimant bears the burden of proving hostility. Most successful claims involve fence lines and grazing land, not occupied dwellings.
How to remove a squatter in Wyoming
Since July 1, 2025, Wyo. Stat. sections 1-21-1401 through 1-21-1403 (SF 6, Enrolled Act No. 20, 2025) give owners of residential dwellings a limited alternative remedy: the owner or authorized agent submits a complaint to the sheriff or municipal police in the county where the property sits, attesting that the person unlawfully entered and remains, that no litigation about the dwelling is pending between the parties, that the person is not a current or former tenant under any written or oral lease, and that the person is not an immediate family member or cohabitant of the owner. Law enforcement may then immediately remove the unauthorized person and arrest for any legal cause, and the statute addresses officer and owner liability while preserving civil remedies for wrongful removal. Anyone outside those conditions must be removed by a forcible entry and detainer action under Wyoming's FED statutes, with the court's writ of restitution executed by the sheriff.
Squatter or tenant? Why it matters
The section 1-21-1402 complaint cannot be used against a current or former tenant under any written or oral rental agreement authorized by the owner or a predecessor, nor against the owner's immediate family or a cohabitating partner — categories the Legislature carved out after the Governor flagged due-process concerns. Those occupants require forcible entry and detainer proceedings with notice and a hearing, and only a sheriff executing the writ may remove them.
What you absolutely cannot do
Wyoming has no statute expressly prohibiting lockouts, but the absence is not permission: the forcible entry and detainer framework exists because forcible self-removal is actionable, and an owner who changes locks or cuts utilities instead of using the courts or the new Article 14 complaint invites a damages claim and hands the occupant a defense. Against anyone with tenant status, only a sheriff enforcing a court-issued writ of restitution can lawfully remove the occupant.
Recent changes to the law
SF 6 (Enrolled Act No. 20, 2025 General Session) became law without the Governor's signature on February 24, 2025 and took effect July 1, 2025, creating Wyo. Stat. sections 1-21-1401 through 1-21-1403 — Wyoming's first law-enforcement removal procedure for unauthorized occupants of residential dwellings. The act also criminalized presenting false property documents and amended the property destruction offense so that a squatter who knowingly defaces or destroys property in a residential dwelling commits a felony punishable by up to 10 years and a $10,000 fine regardless of the damage amount.
What Wyoming property owners get wrong
Guidance written before mid-2025 tells Wyoming owners that court is the only path — the Article 14 complaint changed that for clear break-in cases, and owners should know the sheriff now has explicit authority. The exclusions are broader than most states': former tenants, immediate family, and cohabitants are all off-limits, reflecting the Governor's due-process warning, so the procedure fails exactly in the messy situations (ex-partners, adult children, informal renters) where owners most want it. Wyoming's 10-year period with no tax requirement also makes unmonitored rural land genuinely vulnerable to fence-line claims.
The law itself
Frequently asked questions
How long does a squatter have to stay in Wyoming to claim ownership?
Ten years of actual, open, notorious, exclusive, hostile, and continuous possession under the limitation in Wyo. Stat. section 1-3-103, with no requirement to pay taxes or hold any paperwork. Claims succeed mostly over fence lines and grazing strips; a discovered squatter in a dwelling cannot sustain the required decade once the owner acts.
How do I remove a squatter in Wyoming?
Since July 1, 2025, submit a complaint to the sheriff or town police under Wyo. Stat. section 1-21-1402 attesting the person unlawfully entered your residential dwelling, was never a tenant, is not your family member or cohabitant, and that no litigation is pending — law enforcement can then remove them immediately. If the occupant falls outside those conditions, file a forcible entry and detainer action and let the sheriff execute the writ of restitution.
Who is excluded from Wyoming's fast squatter-removal process?
Current and former tenants under any written or oral lease (including one granted by a prior owner), the owner's immediate family — spouse, child, or parent — and anyone in a cohabitating relationship with the owner, plus anyone involved in pending litigation over the dwelling or listed on title. All of those occupants must be removed through court proceedings, not the sheriff complaint.
What penalties do squatters face for damaging property in Wyoming?
Under the 2025 act, a person who unlawfully occupies a residential dwelling and knowingly defaces, injures, or destroys property in or on it commits a felony punishable by up to 10 years' imprisonment and a $10,000 fine, regardless of the damage amount. Presenting false deeds or leases is also a crime, so forged paperwork compounds rather than protects a squatter's position.
Keep reading
Vacant units attract squatters. Documented ones repel them.
Vantric tracks your leases, tenants, and payment history in one place, so proof of who belongs in your property is always one click away — built for landlords with 1–10 units.
Start Free TrialThis page is general information, not legal advice. Squatter, trespass, and adverse possession law turns on specific facts — verify against the official statute text linked above, and talk to a local attorney or law enforcement before acting.