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Illinois Compiled Statutes

735 ILCS 5/13-118 (2026)

Forty year limitation on claims to real estate

✓ current as of May 2026
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(735 ILCS 5/13-118) (from Ch. 110, par. 13-118)
    Sec. 13-118. Forty year limitation on claims to real estate. No action based upon any claim arising or existing more than 40 years before the commencement of such action shall be maintained in any court to recover any real estate in this State or to recover or establish any interest therein or claim thereto, against the holder of the record title to such real estate when such holder of the record title and his or her grantors immediate or remote are shown by the record to have held chain of title to such real estate for at least 40 years before the action is commenced, unless such claimant, by himself or herself, or by his or her attorney or agent, or if he or she is a minor or under legal disability, by his or her guardian, trustee, either parent, or any other person acting in his or her behalf shall within 40 years after the claim upon which such action is based arises, file in the office of the recorder of the county wherein such real estate is situated, a verified statement definitely describing the real estate involved, the nature and extent of the right or interest claimed, and stating the facts upon which the same is based. However, the holder of the record title to such real estate shall not be entitled to the protection of Sections 13-118 through 13-121 of this Act if the real estate is in the adverse possession of another.
    For purposes of this Section an unborn or unascertained person may be a claimant and a verified statement may be filed on his or her behalf as provided in this Section.
    For the purposes of Sections 13-118 through 13-121 of this Act, any person who holds title to real estate by will or descent from any person who held the title of record to such real estate at the date of his or her death or who holds title by judgment or order of any court, or by deed issued pursuant thereto, i. e., by trustee's, trustee's in bankruptcy, conservator's, guardian's, executor's, administrator's, receiver's, assignee's, master's in chancery, or sheriff's deed shall be deemed to hold chain of title the same as though holding by direct conveyance.
(Source: P.A. 83-358.)

    
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 5 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1997–2021 · leading case: Chicago Title Land Trust Co. v. JS II, 2012 IL App (1st) 63420 (Ill. App. Ct. 2012).
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Chicago Title Land Trust Co. v. JS II, 2012 IL App (1st) 63420 (Ill. App. Ct. 2012). · cites it 2× “” 735 ILCS 5/13-118 (West 2010). -8- ¶ 35 The defendants first contend that South Branch’s failure to prove the “location and dimensions” of the claimed easements is fatal.”
Ashby v. Pinnow, 2020 IL App (2d) 190765 (Ill. App. Ct. 2020). · cites it 2× “No action based upon any claim arising or existing more than 40 years before the commencement of such action shall be maintained in any court to recover any real estate in this State or to recover or establish any interest therein or claim thereto, against the holder of the…”
Ashby v. Pinnow, 2020 IL App (2d) 190765 (Ill. App. Ct. 2020). · cites it 2× “¶ 23 Further, we reject the defendants’ argument that the 40-year statute of limitations set forth in section 13-118 of the Code (735 ILCS 5/13-118 (West 2018)) is not applicable to the plaintiff’s quiet title action.”
Morrison v. Morrison, 2021 IL App (3d) 200243-U (Ill. App. Ct. 2021). “No action based upon any claim arising or existing more than 40 years before the commencement of such action shall be maintained in any court to recover any real estate in this State or to recover or establish any interest therein or claim thereto, against the holder of the…”
Canali v. Satre (Ill. App. Ct. 1997). “Defendants contend that the statute of limitations regarding claims to real estate (735 ILCS 5/13-118 (West 1996)) bars plaintiff's claim to an easement.”
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