Tennessee Specific Surveying (TS) Practice Exam

In Tennessee, a prescriptive easement is created when someone uses another person’s land openly, continuously, and without permission for a long enough period as defined by law. The required period is 20 years. The use must be actual and visible, ongoing, and hostile to the owner’s rights (meaning the user does not have permission). If those conditions are met for the full 20-year span, a court will generally recognize the easement, even though there is no deed or express grant.

So, the reason 20 years is the best answer is that Tennessee law sets that specific duration for establishing a prescriptive easement through long-term, adverse, open use. Shorter timeframes like 10, 15, or 25 years don’t fit the prescriptive-easement requirement in Tennessee.