Article 778 of the Civil Code allows the current possessor of a property to add the possession time of their predecessors in order to acquire it through prescription.
In this regard, the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court reiterated that tacking possessions requires a valid title that substantively links the predecessor and the successor; that both have exercised uninterrupted possession; and the actual handover of the property, which rules out factual situations resulting from usurpation or dispossession.
To prove this legal link, a contract such as a purchase and sale, exchange, donation, or corporate contribution is required; however, a public deed is not strictly necessary, as this depends on the nature of the asset.
In any case, the Court emphasized that this addition cannot include the owner's possession. Precisely, the possession exercised by someone who acts as the owner without being one implies disregarding the rights of the actual owner; in the case of a promise of sale, this automatically disrupts the legal consent of that transaction, thereby preventing the tacking of possessions.
