Activity Feed › Discussion Forums › Ask A Surveyor › Moving Titled Monuments
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Lots of very complex issues here, one of which I would like to comment on.
“That is the narrative at the moment, that the original surveyor made errors in his day, some 70 years ago.”
A monument set in a truly “original” survey is not in error. I have accepted original monuments located as far as 1,100 feet from their deed location.
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@norman-oklahoma
Our surveyor set one iron, within hours another surveyor shows up on our property and says he is wrong by three feet. Then our surveyor says he made a mistake. We inquire further, and he tells us exactly how he made his mistake. We ask him to complete the work, correct the mistake. He refuses, says the other surveyor will do the adjoiners and we ??will get a free survey out of the deal?. Yea… you see where this is going, now our established boundaries ??aren??t? our boundaries.These small town shenanigans is detrimental to the entire profession.
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@norman-oklahoma
The field crew told us later, that he surrendered the job to him, because he claimed ??this is my neighborhood?.Even the best positive spin on this still looks BAD
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@jamesf1
We have an idea of what is going here… and it doesn??t involve professionals producing clear and factual work. His Recorded map gives it away. I just can??t imagine someone putting there neck out their with a map that a layman can prove is not truthful. -
Well, there are other surveyors out there. Go get one.
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Posted by: @jmk83
It appears to be a three foot iron guard post and his detector got a hit underneath it.
So, your description says “3 foot iron guard post”?
You say a surveyor didn’t want to keep digging, even though he got a signal; what’s stopping you from digging?
There are several reasons to reject a monument, math is very low on the list; but it can aid your decision, if other evidence is found to collaborate.
I didn’t see, in any of your posts, what state this is in. But my guess is it’s a metes and bounds state (One of the original colonies or Texas). I’ve never surveyed in one of these states; but my guess, again, is that this is an all to common problem…
Edit: I see in your profile, this is North Carolina; so there ya go…
Your best bet is to let the professionals do their job, then sue them if their wrong.
I hope everyone has a great day; I know I will! -
??THE FACTS OF POSSESSION
The general duty of a surveyor in such a case is plain enough. He is not to assumethat a monument is lost until after he has thoroughly sifted the evidence and foundhimself unable to trace it. Even then he should hesitate long before doing anythingto the disturbance of settled possessions. Occupation, especially if long continued,often affords very satisfactory evidence of the original boundary when no other isattainable; and the surveyor should inquire when it originated, how, and why the lineswere then located as they were, and whether a claim of title has always accompaniedthe possession, and give all the facts due force as evidence. Unfortunately, it is knownthat surveyors sometimes, in supposed obedience to the State statute, disregard allevidences of occupation and claim of title and plunge whole neighborhoods intoquarrels and litigation by assuming to ??establish? corners at points with which theprevious occupation cannot harmonize. It is often the case that, where one or morecorners are found to be extinct, all parties concerned have acquiesced in lines whichwere traced by the guidance of some other corner or landmark, which may or maynot have been trustworthy; but to bring these lines into discredit, when the peopleconcerned do not question them, not only breeds trouble in the neighborhood, but itmust often subject the surveyor himself to annoyance and perhaps discredit, sinceIn a legal controversy the law as well as common sense must declare that a supposedboundary line long acquiesced in is better evidence of where the real line shouldbe than any survey made after the original monuments have disappeared.? ByJustice Thomas Cooley
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My dealings with the Corp of Engineers has been that no matter what proof may be given and prove that older information and existing monuments and/or witness may be in place, the location of their monument is the true location.
0.02
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@dougie
Original two adjoining deeds call for a stake, by the same original surveyor. Which is same terminology used for all other calls in the neighborhood.This guard post is at the top of a fence and power pole.
The new written description for The adjoiners From 22 years ago call for an iron pipe and states the names of the owners of each side as a common corner
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“This guard post is at the top of a fence and power pole.”
I can’t decipher that statement. What is a guard post and how can it be at the top of anything?
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@dougie
I??m sorry, that wasn??t clear. It sits In the ground right in front of the first panel of a fence. The power pole is directly north of it, about 7 feet. The fence was built up to the monument. -
Like most legal things the general principle is simple, the evidence leading to fact is complicated.
The settled rule is the original monument is held unless overridden by another rule. Where and what is the original monument is the difficult part.
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Sometimes you have to go a long distance to come back a short one correctly! _ Edward Albee from Zoo Story
Staking out the dimensions part is easy compared to doing the research back to the original land patent and then moving forward. The real goal of surveying is to find the line and THEN measure it. Getting to the facts is complicated and if you are able to do your own research without paying someone else you can find out quite a lot of facts and evidence finding the original surveyor’s lines. A simple number reversal can be found that persists hundreds of years later in multiple errors because no one wants or as surveyors, can afford, to do their due diligence. Surveyors need to tell people that they are not indicating what you actually own but are tracking the recent history from deed dimensions only. It can be a real zoo out there!
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@big-d-2
it was supplanting another surveyor prior to any research or field work. Cherry picking from a junior plat to reestablish lines that were results oriented by the client and surveyor.
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Jmk83. Your profile says you are licensed in North Carolina. If you??re not you should correct your profile.
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