I appreciate all of the responses I got on this. I neglected to say that this particular tract of land is junior to all of the adjoiners. The particular deeds I was working with were all created by the same surveyor within a year of each other, called for the same original monumentation but each one had bearings that were slightly different and distances that didn't match. The intent of the new M&B description was to convey the remaining land. By calling out the senior adjoiners and common corners, IMO, I've created a description that leaves no guess work about intent. At least the attorney seems to like it!
You should post your new description......if you dare....;-)
> Tax numbers are crap in Texas. Never use them. Only deeds in which they are mentioned were written by people not in the surveying profession. Gis stuff around here is total crap also. Not much better than a handout directing people to a garage sale.
> Been a tough week.
>
> John Harmon
I agree.
> I appreciate all of the responses I got on this. I neglected to say that this particular tract of land is junior to all of the adjoiners. The particular deeds I was working with were all created by the same surveyor within a year of each other, called for the same original monumentation but each one had bearings that were slightly different and distances that didn't match. The intent of the new M&B description was to convey the remaining land. By calling out the senior adjoiners and common corners, IMO, I've created a description that leaves no guess work about intent. At least the attorney seems to like it!
Until some GIS flunkie at the property assessor's office starts screwing with the tax maps.
I was going to mention that you should be certain of the junior/senior relationships prior to deciding to call adjoiners. when you call to an adjoiner, you are essentailly making the adjoiner's boundary a monument (a controlling element) to the boundary of the parcel you are describing. I'm glad you clarified that in this case.
I have often put the APN atr the bottom of the description, kind of like a footnote, because many jurisdictions like to have it there as a cross reference when they are reviewing the description as part of a submittal package for some sort of permitted project. But I don't put them into the description as you've described because the County Assessors have a habit of renumbering parcels, and then sometimes reusing old numbers for different parcels. As was mentioned by someone else, when referring to the boundary of another parcel, I refer to the recording ID (Book & Page, Doc #) because that will not change and thus cannot ever be confused with a parcel that was not intended to be called for.
When there is a monument, found or set, I call for it like so:
"thence {bearing & distance} to a 1" iron pipe with brass cap marked {whatever is stamped on it};..."
If it is a common corner with an adjoiner, and calling it as such will not cause some yahoo to decide to reject the mon because he presumes the other parcel to be senior and that it's corner at this location is in a different place (sounds dumb, but it has happened before), then I may call it as such.
Unless the location of the adjoining parcel is controlling, I normally will not call it out. I agree with Stephen Calder that (in almost all cases) landowners intend and expect that there is only one common line between their parcel and the immediately adjacent ones. That's what "adjoining" means. And in nearly all cases, if the surveyor has done an adequate job of investigation and analysis, that's exactly what will be found to exist: one common line between adjoining parcels.
Lot X as shown on Land Court Plan XXXXXX-X.
Lot X as shown on a plan entitled Plan of Land (Subdivision Plan, Division Plan, etc.) dated X XX, XXXX, prepared by XX, for XX, recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds as Plan Book XXX, Page XX. (Too many X's for a non-porn site...)
Lot 3 as shown on a plan entitled Division Plan dated May 11, 2013, prepared by Eldredge Surveying & Engineering, for John F. Smith, recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds as Plan Book 999, Page 999.