[¶ 1] Leslie and Nancy Niedner appeal from a judgment entered in the Superior Court (Kennebec County, Marden, J.) finding that David E. Hamlin obtained title to a disputed parcel of land by either acquiescence or adverse possession. The Niedners argue that the court’s findings are contradictory and are not supported by the record. Because the findings are contradictory and there is insufficient evidence to support a finding of either title by adverse possession or title by acquiescence, we vacate and remand for entry of judgment in favor of the Niedners.
I. CASE HISTORY
[¶ 2] In February 2007, David Hamlin filed a complaint to quiet title pursuant to *253 14 M.R.S. § 6651 (2007) and remove any cloud from the title to his land and a portion of land deeded to the Niedners but claimed by Hamlin. Hamlin alleged that he had owned his land for four years and that his predecessors-in-title had acquired title to the Niedners’ land by adverse possession. The Niedners denied this allegation; sought to dismiss Hamlin’s complaint; and counterclaimed, seeking a declaratory judgment, pursuant to 14 M.R.S. § 5954 (2007), and to quiet title.
[¶ 3] Following a bench trial, the court found that between 1937 and 1987, both Hamlin’s land and the Niedners’ land were owned by members of one family. The court also found that the property line between the parcels was “clearly established” by a plan from a boundary survey, dated July 20, 2006. The boundary survey indicated a triangular area of disputed title, which the court found had been deeded to the Niedners.
[¶4] The court stated that there was evidence “in favor of occupancy and against occupancy by both parties.” The court also found that “at least from 1937 until the [Niedners’] property was conveyed to Wheeler [in September 1987], the disputed area was occupied primarily by [Hamlin’s] predecessor-in-title without dispute by those in the [Niedners’] chain of title” and that the land was used for family and agricultural uses and “general occupation consistent with residential use.”
[¶5] The court found that Hamlin’s predecessors-in-title were not put on notice of a potential dispute regarding the land until 1987. 1 The court impliedly found that the “familial and friendly relationship” between the parties’ predecessors-in-title did not defeat the element of hostility required for adverse possession. The court questioned, however:
what ... it [should] do with its finding that during the period from 1937 to 1987 both sides to the deeded boundary line mistakenly thought that the boundary was in the area occupied by [Hamlin’s] predecessor-in-title?[ 2 ] This court can only conclude from all of the evidence that the [Niedners’] predecessor-in-title concurred in the occupancy of the land contrary to its deeded title and therefore permission for said occupancy is to be inferred.
The court indicated that the “answer is a doctrine neither presented nor argued by either party” and went on to describe the elements of title by acquiescence. The court then concluded that Hamlin’s “predecessors-in-title have occupied the land in question with the acquiescence of the [Ni-edners’] predecessor-in-title or by mistake resulting in title by adverse possession.”
[¶ 6] The Niedners filed this appeal.
II. LEGAL ANALYSIS
A. Title by Acquiescence
[¶ 7] We review factual findings for clear error and conclusions of law
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based on those findings de novo.
In re Beauchene,
[¶ 8] Evidence is “clear and convincing” when it places in the ultimate fact finder an “abiding conviction” that it is “highly probable” that the factual contentions of the party with the burden of proof are true.
Anchorage Realty Trust,
[¶ 9] Because the court found both parties’ predecessors-in-title were mutually mistaken as to the boundary line, “permission for said occupancy” could not be inferred; and any actions indicating acquiescence were the result of a mistake, which cannot form the basis of title by acquiescence.
See Anchorage Realty Trust,
B. Title by Adverse Possession
[¶ 10] “Adverse possession presents a mixed question of law and fact.”
Dombkowski v. Ferland,
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[¶ 11] The law generally disfavors findings of adverse possession, and “[t]here is every presumption that the occupancy is in subordination to the true title.”
Striefel v. Charles-Keyt-Leaman P’ship,
[¶ 12] The requirement that possession be “hostile” generally means that the “possessor does not have the true owner’s permission to be on the land.... ”
Wood,
[¶ 13] Further, when property is or has been held within one family, the burden of establishing hostility is greater.
See Totman v. Malloy,
[¶ 14] Here, where the land was held within one family prior to 1987, there was no evidence of actual hostility or notice. Hamlin failed to meet his burden to demonstrate the requisite hostility element for the years prior to 1987. Because the land at issue only came into possession of a non-family member in 1987, fewer than twenty years before the boundary dispute arose, the record cannot support a finding of hostility for a period in excess of twenty years.
See Wood,
The entry is:
Judgment vacated. Remand for entry of judgment for the Niedners.
Notes
. Before Wheeler, a non-family member who sold the Niedners their property, took possession, the land was owned by various members of David Hamlin's family. These family members did not try to exercise control over the area that later became disputed and led to this litigation.
. David P. Hamlin, Hamlin’s father, testified that the deeds of conveyance from a 1968 transfer between Philip Hamlin, Hamlin’s grandfather and predecessor-in-title, and Raymond Loubier, Hamlin’s great-uncle and a predecessor-in-title of the Niedners, did not match the intent of the parties. Additionally, there was testimony that after the transfer of deeds, the parties continued to use the disputed land as they always had. The court appears to base its finding on the assumption that there was a mistake in this testimony.