A person who is in lawful possession of real property may use force to protect his or her real property. The person may use force against another person or an intruder if he or she reasonably believes that force is immediately necessary to prevent the other person's trespass on his or her real property. A person who is in lawful possession of tangible personal property may use force against another person in order to prevent the other person's unlawful interference with the personal property.

A person who has been unlawfully dispossessed of his or her real or personal property may use force against another person if he or she reasonably believes that force is immediately necessary to re-enter the real property or to regain possession of the personal property. However, the force must be used immediately after the dispossession. Also, the person must reasonably believe that the other person had no right to dispossess the person of his or her property and the other person must have used force, threats, or fraud to dispossess the person of his or her property.

Even though a person is entitled to use force in defense of his or her property, the person should use other methods to oust another person from his or her real property or to prevent the other person from interfering with his or her personal property. The person should resort to legal process in order to protect his or her real or personal property.

A person is not entitled to use force against another person if the other person is lawfully interfering with the person's real or personal property. If the other person has a right to be on or to use the property, force is never permissible. Also, force may only be used to protect the person's real or personal property.

A person may be entitled to use force against another person in order to protect the property of a third person if the person reasonably believes that the other person's unlawful interference with the third person's property constitutes a theft, if the third person has requested the person to protect the third person's property, or if the person reasonably believes that he or she has a legal duty to protect the third person's property.

A person is only entitled to use deadly force in the defense of his or her property or a third person's property if the person would be entitled to use non-deadly force; if the deadly force is immediately necessary to prevent the commission of an arson, a burglary, a robbery, or a theft at night; or if the property cannot be protected by any other means. A defendant who is charged with using deadly force to protect property must show that he or she was trying to prevent a certain offense. The defendant's true motive cannot be to kill the other person.

A person is entitled to use a device to protect his or her property if the device is not designed to cause death or serious injury and if the use of the device is reasonable. Examples of such lawful devices include spike fences or barbed wire. Examples of unlawful devices include spring guns and mantraps.

Copyright 2010 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.