Writing Legal Descriptions 2018-01 · Writing Legal Descriptions ‐NYSAPLS Conf January 2018 17...

Writing Legal Descriptions ‐ NYSAPLS Conf January 2018

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Legal Descriptions

Scott Reeser, P.L.S.

NYSAPLS 2018 Conference

INTRODUCTION:

• Over 25 years experience in the surveying profession

• Graduate of Penn State survey program

• Licensed in Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia and Colorado

• Have worked for small firms and larger sized firms

WARNING:

This presentation is not intended to be a lecture. My intent is to

present the attendees with information I have gathered thru various

sources and stimulate discussion on these topics. Participation from

the attendees is essential to the success of the session. Everyone in

attendance is asked to provide input and ask questions. By gathering

input from those present, we may all learn something by the end of

the day.


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Objectives of this Webinar:

– Define the purpose of legal descriptions

– List commonly used types of legal descriptions

– Review the parts of legal descriptions

Objectives of this Webinar:

– Identify common terminology used in legal descriptions

– Identify common mistakes made in the preparation of legal descriptions

– Practice writing legal descriptions

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A LEGAL DESCRIPTION?

Per Black’s Law Dictionary:

“Legal Description. A formal description of real property, including a description

of any part subject to an easement or reservation, complete enough that a

particular piece of land can be located and identified. The description can

be made by reference to a government survey, metes and bounds, or lot

numbers of a recorded plat. ‐ Also termed land description.”


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Types of Legal Descriptions:

– Metes and Bounds

– Reference to other Documents

– Strip or baseline

– Bounded by

– Public Lands / Section Reference

Metes & Bounds:

• Provides a description of the area’s perimeter using

geometry

• Metes refers to bearings or angles and distances.

Bounds refers to the physical monumentation noted

• Relies upon a well defined starting point

• Closed figure




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Reference to other Documents:

• Very basic form of description

• Refers to the instrument that created the area

being described



Strip or Baseline:

• Similar in nature to a metes and bounds

• Linear description

• Commonly includes a width of the conveyance

• Frequently used to describe utility right of ways or

road alignments



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Bounded by:

• Relies on the locations of the adjoiners or specific

geographic features

• Difficult to retrace without expanding to adjoining

properties



Public Lands / Section Reference:

• Similar to referencing the source document Linear

description

• Refers to the area based on the public lands system

• Can only be employed in those states created under

the Public Lands Survey System



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Parts of Legal Descriptions:

– Caption

– Body

– Qualifying Clauses

Caption:

• Identifies location

• Typical Information:

• Municipal reference

• Subdivision name

• Previous surveys

• ‘Title Block’ of the legal description



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Caption:

Body:

• Should clearly delineate the area being described

• Typical Information:

• Defined point of beginning

• Meets & bounds or the parcel

• Adjoiner references

• Area of the parcel



Body:


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Qualifying Clauses:

• Source of Title

• Exceptions:

• Previous outsales

• Mineral rights

• Easements to others

• Reservations



Qualifying

Clauses:

Common Terminology:

There are numerous words and phrases that we see pop up in legal descriptions that can have a real effect on the meaning of the description. We will touch on a few of them and try to gain a better understanding of how they should really be used.


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Adjoining / Contiguous / Coincident / Adjacent:

• Common boundary = Adjoining, Contiguous &

Coincident

• In the same vicinity of = Adjacent

• Avoid the use of contiguous as its definition is

ambiguous

• Do not use “immediately adjacent” as it has the

same meaning as adjoining and contiguous, use one

of these instead

Common Terminology:

Conveyed / Described:

• The two have definite different meanings and

should never be transposed

• Conveyed means the transference of some title or

right

• Described means just that, something has been

portrayed

Common Terminology:

Along:

• Refers to something that is in the same line as what

you are describing

• When a road or other feature having a discernible

width is mentioned to be “along” a described line,

the assumption is made that the line is in the center

or thread of the feature, UNLESS otherwise

qualified

Common Terminology:


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Due North:

• The word should “Due” should not be used, this

creates ambiguity

• When found in descriptions, interpreting this as

magnetic north is generally accepted, but certainly

a risk

Common Terminology:

Excepting / Reserving:

• Both infer the holding back of something from the

description

• Excepting is generally intended to refer to title of

something

• Reserving generally implies some sort of right

• Subject to is typically a previously reserved or

excepted area

Common Terminology:

More or less:

• Implies uncertainty in a measurement and

therefore should be avoided

Common Terminology:


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To a point:

• In most cases, this phrase is used without need,

lines and curves always end at a point

• If the ending point of a course is anything more

than a point at the end of the line (ie. not

monumented), the words “to a point” should be

dropped and the item at the end of the course

should be identified

Common Terminology:

Description Do’s and Do Not’s:

We could spend a great deal of time on suggestions to make legal descriptions better. Based on some of Wattles’ and other’s writings, we will look as few of the more common items or those that may have a bigger impact on preparing legal descriptions.

Direct from Wattles:

• Do be concise

• Do not use unnecessary words or phrases

• Do capitalize cardinal directions

• Do not spell out numbers

• Do avoid abbreviations

• Do not drop leading zeros

• Do spell out measurement abbreviations



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Basis of Bearings:

• Include in the qualifying clauses

• Understand the difference between Magnetic

North, Observed North and Grid North

• When noting Magnetic North or Observed North,

include the date and time of the observation


Units of Measure:

• Include in the qualifying clauses

• Most common unit of length is the US Survey Foot

• Most common unit of area is the acre

• Many other units of measure are out there, older

documents utilize more historical units that some

people may be unaware of today.

• And of course there is the metric system …


Historical Units of Measure:

• Length

• Perch, Rod & Pole

• Chain

• Link

• Area

• Acre

• Hectare



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Modern Units of Measure:

• Length

• US Survey Foot versus meter

• Mile versus kilometer

• Area

• Acre


Smoot

Describing Curves:

• Describing curves should be done with care to avoid

introduction of error due to assumptions

• Each curve described should include the following

information:

• Direction of the curve

• Status of tangency

• 5 Essential parts of the curve



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Course descriptions:

• Each course should have a starting point, direction,

length and ending point

Adjoiners:

• Adjoiners should be noted at the end of the

segment, after the controlling information is noted


Sample Metes & Bounds:

Practical Applications:


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Discussions

Which type of description is the best?

• Metes & bounds provides geometric definition

• Bounded by is very simple

• Reference points back to the ‘parent document’

Discussion Topics:

Numbers versus words?

• Which prevails in the event of a conflict?

• Which do you prefer, words only, numbers only or

both words and numbers?

Discussion Topics:


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Who should prepare legal descriptions?

• Some states require this to be done by a licensed

surveyor

• Should this be restricted to surveyors?

• What about attorneys or their paralegals?

Discussion Topics:

When asked by a client or someone else to prepare a

legal description, what do you provide?

• Paper copy only, digital file, pdf …?

• Do you sign and seal your legal descriptions?

Discussion Topics:

References & Credits:I cannot take full credit for the technical information in this presentation, it is

a collection or research I have collected from a host of sources that

include:

• Black’s Law –Bryan Garner

• Writing Legal Descriptions – Gurdon Wattles

• Manual for the Instruction of Survey of Public Lands – US Dept. of Interior,

Bureau of Land Development

• Land Survey Descriptions – Gurdon Wattles

• Understanding the Risks: Surveys, Descriptions and Plats – John Stahl, 2014

CLSA/NALS Conference


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References & Credits:Contd…

• Writing Legal Descriptions – Wesley Parks & Randall Myers, 2009 PSLS

Conference

• Legal Descriptions – Robert Miller, 2014 PSLS Conference

• Sample plans used in the presentation are submissions to previous PSLS

Conference plat contests.

• Teaching from various surveyors I have worked with including:

– Gregory Kohl, P.L.S.

– Daniel Laudenslayer, P.L.S.

– Robert Miller, P.L.S.

– Nicholas Duchan, P.L.S.

– And others ….

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