@fairbanksls I obtained my surveyor's license early this year. I'm aware my experience is limited and I have much to learn still.
Couple of things...
Force someone to be your mentor. Hang out in their office as often as you can without them running you off with a shotgun.
Some things cannot be fixed by a surveyor. Say you hunt down what the real call should be. You still cannot fix the deed. Sometimes we think because we cannot fix something, it is our failure. Well, the system isn't set up that way. Engineers can fix pretty much anything they are working on in some fashion or another. Sometimes Surveyors need to refer a client to a lawyer.
If you help find a defective deed or a bad legal description (ask your mentor their opinion), contact the client ASAP. Tell them they get to pay for the work done to date to discover the issue, and they should do X, Y, Z, then you can talk to them about adjusting the scope to get the matter resolved.
Maybe get a hold of a title company and ask them to dig up what they can on it.
@dave-o When I click on the property card info it lists the previous owners. The only previous owner shown on the property card is the person who currently owns the lot and the deed reference is the same deed mentioned in my original post. I can search the county register of deeds by the owner's name but haven't found anything describing the lot shown on the parcel viewer.
Sounds like a money pit. And that your county/state may not be up to speed on providing record documents in a digitally controlled access format. Same here in some areas of land research where it will sometimes require a trip to the state archives on another island to find relevant docs - sometimes significantly adding to the expense of the project. It may be cheaper (and more sure) to employ an escrow or title firm to do a title search or at least an abstract to guide you in. But you're going to have to go back in the chain on that and likely the adjoining properties to reveal the truth. For a complete view if needed, you'd want to identify all encumbrances as well - rights, reservations, easements, etc, which a title search should do. Good luck to you.
@dave-o When I click on the property card info it lists the previous owners. The only previous owner shown on the property card is the person who currently owns the lot and the deed reference is the same deed mentioned in my original post. I can search the county register of deeds by the owner's name but haven't found anything describing the lot shown on the parcel viewer.
I’ve run into situations where the previous owners and previous deeds aren’t immediately obvious. County indexes, property cards, etc aren’t always 100% updated. It usually requires a few hours (or more) in the county courthouse searching the grantee index for the name of the last known owner to find the grantor. Then take that name and search the grantee index. Repeat until you find an original land grant/patent from the governor, a King, the US government, etc. There should be an unbroken chain of title back to the original land grant from the sovereign.
Usually the court house staff will be very helpful if you ask politely. Most of them know the records better than anyone else.
I’ve also had to travel to adjacency county courthouses as counties sometime split and merge.
Do your own digging in the courthouse. You must learn how to do this. If you have a Register of Deeds Office, begin there. If you are in one of backward States and are not allowed full access to the index books, you will need to pay a title company to go through their index books to pull up what you must have.
You need to find the right deed. If the deed is for a different parcel, the person on that deed isn't the current owner. Deed research is a basic skill land surveyors need to have. It's nice when the county GIS does all the work for us, but it rarely does. If you don't know how to do the research talk to someone local.
You aren't planning on completing your survey based only on the current deeds are you?
Do your own digging in the courthouse. You must learn how to do this. If you have a Register of Deeds Office, begin there. If you are in one of backward States and are not allowed full access to the index books, you will need to pay a title company to go through their index books to pull up what you must have.
Are there entire states that don't allow access? I have had individual Counties try to deny access because 'the records are too old", but firm insistence has always got me in.
To the best of my knowledge Missouri is one of those backward States unless they have changed in recent years. Grantor/grantee only, which is the same as worthless.
To the best of my knowledge Missouri is one of those backward States unless they have changed in recent years. Grantor/grantee only, which is the same as worthless.
I enjoy learning and I’m all ears.
@holy-cow yuck, how do they get away with that?
I don't consider grantor/grante close to worthless though. It works, just more work.
Certain letters of the alphabet are far more common as the first letter of surnames. Then there are places where "City of ......" and "State of......" add to the number of pages under C and S.
My personal experience in Missouri was seeking out when my great-grandparents purchased their farm. I was almost positive of the year. I finally found they had recorded their purchase deed when they decided to sell that farm and move to a different one something like 19 years later. To add to the fun, the courthouse was from the early 1800s and I was sent to the dungeon in the basement to view the grantor/grantee books for that time frame. The dungeon had a single low-wattage bulb and the door was on the order of 18 inches thick. At that time, the abstractors had a stranglehold on the index books which allow quick research.
The deed reference for an adjoining property of a subject property references a different property
First off, this faulty deed is for an adjoining property, so it isn't your problem to solve. If it were, the proper course of action is to have the parties file a correction deed with the correct description. It's far from uncommon. Happens all the time. If the grantor is unavailable (ie/dead) then his/her heirs. If that trail dries up a quiet title action will be necessary, and for that they will need an attorney.
Until that happens, and for the purposes of your survey of your clients parcel, you act like the faulty deed doesn't exist, and step back to the deed of prior sale - which presumably has a proper description. If not, step back further. Eventually you will get a description you can use.
Many times I have stumbled onto incorrect indexing in the index books. Not too long ago I found an entry that was actually in the northeast quarter of the section but was indexed as being in the northwest quarter of the section. The error had existed for close to 50 years. In such cases I always inform the clerks to make sure they make a correction.
Try looking at miscellaneous recordings to see if the contraxt was recorded. That is more commin in some areas that others.
This situation invites evidence outside the deed. The other thing it invites is the horrid practice of imposing a mythical solution generated using an overpriced calculator and math book.
Question one (two parts)... Am I the right person to solve this. If I am, do I know where my lane ends?
Question two.. What do the actions of the owners tell you?
At the end of the day (assuming the evidence doesn't provide a defensible answer) it is best to extract an amicable and lasting agreement from the owners. We might do some or all of that work depending on our knowledge, the facts, and the law where the problem exists.
@norman-oklahoma I may be missing something, but the OP hasn't said the deed is incorrect have they? Just that they have the wrong deed. Right?
