Section 612. Where action cannot be maintained; action based on reverter or breach of condition subsequent  


Latest version.
  • 1. Except as otherwise provided in  this
      section,  an action to recover the possession of real property cannot be
      maintained where it is founded upon a claim of reverter of an estate  in
      fee  conveyed  upon special limitation or founded upon a claim of breach
      of a condition subsequent, other than a condition of a lease for a  term
      of  years,  unless  (a)  within  ten  years  after the occurrence of the
      reverter or the first occurrence of the breach, the  plaintiff,  or  any
      predecessor  in  interest then entitled to possession or to exercise the
      power of termination, shall have  served  upon  the  person  or  persons
      against  whom the action might then have been commenced a written demand
      that possession be delivered, stating the ground thereof, and the action
      is commenced within one year thereafter or (b), if  no  such  demand  is
      served, the action is commenced within such ten years.
        2.  Where the reverter or breach occurred before September 1, 1963, an
      action may be maintained if demand is made as provided in  this  section
      before  the  expiration of ten years computed from the occurrence of the
      reverter or the  first  occurrence  of  the  breach,  or  on  or  before
      September  1,  1965,  whichever  is  later,  and the action is commenced
      within one year thereafter or if, without previous demand as provided in
      this section, the action is commenced before the expiration of ten years
      computed from the occurrence of the reverter or the first occurrence  of
      the breach, or on or before September 1, 1965, whichever is later.
        3. The demand shall be served either personally or by mailing the same
      by  certified  mail  addressed to the person or persons against whom the
      action might then have been  commenced,  at  his  or  their  last  known
      address or addresses.
        4.  The  demand  may  be  made on behalf of an infant by his parent or
      guardian or by the person with whom he resides, may be made on behalf of
      an incompetent by the committee of his person or property,  and  may  be
      made  on  behalf of a conservatee by the conservator of his property. If
      the person entitled to maintain the action shall have died,  the  demand
      may  be  made  either  by  the  persons  succeeding  to the right of the
      decedent,  or  one  of  them,  or  on  their  behalf  by  the   personal
      representative of the decedent.
        5.  The  demand  shall  become  ineffective  unless  action to recover
      possession in accordance therewith is commenced within one year from the
      date of service thereof. If no action is commenced, or no such demand is
      served within the time specified in subdivisions  1  or  2,  or  if  the
      demand  served  becomes  ineffective,  it shall be conclusively presumed
      that the possibility of reverter  by  reason  of  which  the  estate  is
      claimed  to have reverted, or the power of termination for breach of the
      condition which is claimed to have been broken, was extinguished  at  or
      before  the  date  when  the  reverter would have occurred or a right of
      entry would have accrued by reason of such possibility  of  reverter  or
      breach of such condition.
        6. The operation of this section is not affected by any disability, or
      by  the  fact  that  the  person against whom the action might have been
      brought within the  period  herein  provided  was  during  that  time  a
      non-resident  or  absent from the state, and is not affected by any lack
      of knowledge on the part of any person that the reverter or  breach  has
      occurred,  unless  it  is  established  that  the  facts  upon which the
      reverter occurred, or the facts constituting the breach, were  concealed
      from  the  plaintiff  or his predecessor in interest by actual fraud. If
      such fraud be established, the time provided in subdivision 1 or 2 shall
      commence to run when the facts are discovered by a  person  entitled  to
      serve the demand as provided in this section.
    
        7.  This  section  does  not limit any other statute or rule of law or
      equity by which a possibility of reverter or right of entry is or may be
      extinguished or rendered unenforceable, or by which an action to recover
      possession of the property may be extinguished or barred.