I've seen this in various discussions. I'm not really sure what it means.
What is the process of perfecting the title. Is title somehow imperfect to begin with and in need of some process to perfect it. What does a landowner need to do and why to perfect his title? How does it affect the boundary?
Is a surveyor or survey required to perfect the title? I own some land, should I be worried about doing some survey work to perfect title?
From Black's eight:
perfect title. 1. FEE SIMPLE. 2. A grant of land that requires no further act from legal authority to constitute an absolute title to the land. 3. A title that does not disclose a patent defect that may require a lawsuit to defend it. 4. A title that is good both in law and in equity. 5. A title that is good and valid beyond all reasonable doubt.
Is a perfect boundary description (math and calls) required for perfect title?
Can a survey mess up my perfect title?
Recording a deed perfects it, however it is no guarantee that it is "perfect".
Assume your property has been surveyed and the survey does not agree with your deed.
Case 1 is if all monuments have been found or set. You would deed the property from yourself to yourself with the new description and possibly the survey included. The world has been put on notice of the changes. By recording you have perfected your new description. Should an adjoiner be subsequently surveyed, the surveyor is readily aware of and will hopefully agree with your boundaries.
Case 2 without all corners monumented becomes more complex because the corners are not as findable.
Paul in PA
I'm by no means an expert, but I believe 'perfecting' title has to do with the chain of title, recordation and documentation.
As in a release of mortgage that was never filed in 1951. Although there may have been two other mortgages on the property since then that have been satisfied, the title scrutinizers want everything to be 'perfect'.
A survey for 'perfecting' title might be required if there were any record of boundary issues concerning the property, or an ambiguous description.
Finding a perfect title would be as rare as finding a perfect woman.
The process is legal, go see a lawyer. That said, the better surveyors should have an understanding of the concept and should inform the attorneys when flaws predate their search requirements.
Perfected title or marketable title is title to land that is free flaws: be those claims or potential claims by other parties, interests held by other parties or other defects in the title that would cause one to have an actual need for title insurance.
Those attorneys are only required to go back 50-60 years / to a warrantee deed; flaws predating the searches can be easily missed by the attorney.
A survey can be required to resolve the imperfection, for example if the title is derived from adverse possession a survey may be necessary to quiet the title.
A perfect description may describe an imperfect title.
A survey can mess up a title when you find that perfect description does not actually describe the location of the perfect title.
A lawyer who specializes in this field could write volumes on the topic.
A friend of mine, a surveyor here in Washington, inherited all of his parents interest, in all of their land holdings of property in Minnesota. He gets a call from a lawyer back there and is told he needs to sign off on a quit claim deed, for a plat that his parents had owned that never got developed, but the plat was recorded. The lawyer says that it is just a formality and my friend need not worry about anything and would not be compensated. The lawyer seemed to be unable to answer any of my friends questions, so he looked into it.
It turns out that his parents retained ownership of all of the streets in the plat. The lawyer worked for Walmart; they had purchased all of the lots and were beginning construction when someone discovered this 'cloud'.....
The amount they ended up giving my buddy was A LOT MORE than those streets were worth......
