Misclosures in Legal Descriptions
When you purchase a piece of property there is one document that is of great importance, the Deed. There is a lot of important information written upon this document but for the purpose of this discussion we are going to focus on the Legal Description. There are several different types of legal descriptions but the type that will be discussed here is called a “Metes and Bounds”. Take a look at your Deed and if you see the words “Commencing at (some position usually a section corner); thence (some direction and distance); thence (some other direction and distance); thence…” and so on, you have a “metes and bounds” legal description.
The theory behind this type of description is that if one knows where to start and how to orient themselves they should be able to simply follow the directions and distances, referred to as “calls”, and trace the description on the ground. The calls will start at a Point of Beginning (POB) and if done properly, the calls will continue around the perimeter of the parcel and end where it began, the POB. Unfortunately, not all metes and bounds descriptions are prepared by individuals who have a deep understanding of the concepts. This, along with general human fallibility, can lead to mistakes in the preparation of the legal description.
Mistakes within metes and bounds descriptions are not easy to discover without the aid of software or a thorough knowledge of the math behind the words. Fortunately, your local surveyor will have both and will review the description of the parcel he is about to survey. What we look for is a “misclosure”. If there is misclosure, a mistake in the metes and bounds description, it will manifest itself by not ending where it began. Sometimes the misclosure is an insignificant amount, for example; ½ inch for a boundary that has a perimeter of 1 mile. Sometimes it’s a little worse, like 1 foot for a 1 mile perimeter and sometimes it’s huge; 20 feet, 30 feet.
In any case, the surveyor is entrusted by the public to use fair, equitable and accepted methods to determine the limits of title for the parcel on the ground. This task will include an analysis of the legal description and a comparison of the written document with the evidence found in the field. Usually, the big misclosures are easy to figure out; someone accidently switched a couple of numbers, 32.65’ instead of 23.65’ or incorrectly labelled a bearing; N89˚57’ 47” W instead of S89˚57’47” W. Other times it is more difficult, and the surveyor may not know where the misclosure is until they are in the field and take accurate and precise measurements.
BMJ has a long history of completing boundary surveys and has access to many historical documents to help us answer these types of questions. If you are in the market for a boundary survey give us a call, we will be happy to help.
