Looking for ROW deeds

Often enough, in Texas the ROW ownership transfers are found in the District Court Records from condemnation and other court actions to gain the land.
It is also difficult to find everyone's signature that actually sold land for the ROW.
Many are complete blanket deeds.
I have one ROW record for a very curvy Farm to Market Highway that simply gives stations and width to the right and left of centerline without mention of direction or curve data along tens of miles of highway.
Then there are the rare highways that began as a County Highway that later became under TxDot control.
And the State Highway ROW that was abandoned and deeded to the County that never relinquished title over to adjacent land owners.
good luck

In Georgia they may be located in dockets from the Superior Court if they were condemned. No Grantor/Grantee record. I have had to search through several years of dockets to find condemnations. A real pain in the derriere.
Andy

Even more fun is when the recorded documents do not agree with the highway plans...........substantially.

I would consider that they built the highway with more accuracy than they set the monuments. You can reference the monuments but I would not hold them.

In PA the record highway plan is sufficient record as a deed of taking.

Paul in PA

Interesting, I typed this reply about 12 hours ago, but apparently never sent it. I just checked into the thread and there was my reply patiently waiting for me to hit the go button.

[SARCASM]Yes the monuments were just set as some contractor's hobby, meaningless.[/SARCASM]

The maps and monuments clearly express the state's intent to acquire. The state cannot be adversely possessed against. Hold the mons and maps.

Oklahoma has hundreds (if not thousands) of miles of state highways without the acquired R/W being filed of record. There, at one time, were signed deeds, drawings and little highway department exhibits with parcel numbers. They were kept at the highway department's "Right of Way Division". After about fifty years the file cabinets were moved to basements and warehouses and eventually forgotten and trashed.

One story for the reasoning of not filing the conveyances was that the state felt they shouldn't be required to pay county filing fees. A lot of the documentation and exhibits can be found in the abstracts of the property owners. More likely is the fact that all the property described around the parcels creates what I call "a shadow" in the descriptions...the property is there as described by adjoiner's, but no actual deed of conveyance is recorded. In the private sector and with the state also it's generally considered "occupied R/W", a fancy word for, if nothing else, rights by prescription.

In preparing new or additional R/W it's common to describe the entire area and then except out the portion that is occupied as R/W in the calculation of area for payment. Kind of a "CYA" move.

Paul in PA, post: 434775, member: 236 wrote: I would consider that they built the highway with more accuracy than they set the monuments. You can reference the monuments but I would not hold them.

In PA the record highway plan is sufficient record as a deed of taking.

Paul in PA

Interesting, I typed this reply about 12 hours ago, but apparently never sent it. I just checked into the thread and there was my reply patiently waiting for me to hit the go button.

Not sure I understand "they built the highway with more accuracy than they set the monuments".

The Monuments pretty much match what's on the plans. Section ties are not all that reliable here. Is the edge of pavement and stripping better than the ROW markers?

paden cash, post: 434784, member: 20 wrote: Oklahoma has hundreds (if not thousands) of miles of state highways without the acquired R/W being filed of record. There, at one time, were signed deeds, drawings and little highway department exhibits with parcel numbers. They were kept at the highway department's "Right of Way Division". After about fifty years the file cabinets were moved to basements and warehouses and eventually forgotten and trashed.

One story for the reasoning of not filing the conveyances was that the state felt they shouldn't be required to pay county filing fees. A lot of the documentation and exhibits can be found in the abstracts of the property owners. More likely is the fact that all the property described around the parcels creates what I call "a shadow" in the descriptions...the property is there as described by adjoiner's, but no actual deed of conveyance is recorded. In the private sector and with the state also it's generally considered "occupied R/W", a fancy word for, if nothing else, rights by prescription.

In preparing new or additional R/W it's common to describe the entire area and then except out the portion that is occupied as R/W in the calculation of area for payment. Kind of a "CYA" move.

For ROW with UDOT plans I usually can find the deeds. Now, my county never bothered to plot them on their recorders ownership map so you can't see the highway there other than some weird angle boundaries. I quizzed the recorder about it and was told "they are not taxable parcels so we never put them on our maps". I've been surprised when I see surveyors stake boundaries out in the fee ROW. I guess they didn't see it on the recorders "cadastral" map and didn't realize the state owned the road or dig any deeper. I find it hard to be staking in a highway and not realize the road is there, but it happens.

One landowner told me he knew there wasn't any deeds along the road. He had a dairy and owned on both sides of the road. The Highway Patrol started harassing his kids for driving on the highway to work the farm. He claims that he told the highway patrol he "owned" the road and that after that they couldn't arrest he kids for driving there. Sounds kinda fishy to me but that's what he claims. He's kind of a hard guy to deal with, maybe it wasn't worth the hassle to get after his kids once they new they were just farming in the area.

Andy Bruner, post: 434713, member: 1123 wrote: In Georgia they may be located in dockets from the Superior Court if they were condemned. No Grantor/Grantee record. I have had to search through several years of dockets to find condemnations. A real pain in the derriere.
Andy

I doubt much of this six miles of road was condemned but have a clue that one nearby parcel may have been purchased by the county. A RR curved there and once the road was widened the remainder was not worth much. Later the RR was abandened and the county sold back to a private owner. The parcel doesn't include the road area but when the county sold they reserved a strip thought to be the road but in reality adjacent to the road. I think the county bought what was left from the state taking but no recorded deed plotted on the county "map". The recorders "cadasral" ownership map doesn't come close to showing the ground truth. So when you reveal the mess, the county to approve subdivisions and such requires boundary line agreements on established boundary line fences, original from a hundred years ago. Nobody would pay for quality survey work back then and that hasn't changed one bit. Throw in free GIS maps on the internet without reliable coordinate data (again - they won't pay) and there are almost no boundaries in the area that are not "off". I suppose a hundred years of being where they first "surveyed" it doesn't count. But hey, what else is new?

All my client wants to do is build a house on land that's been in the family for 60 years and the family ranch going on 150 years. To get a permit, well you gotta do all this sh*t.

I suppose the other side is if it was not for all the government regulation I'd barely have any work at all. Worthless effort has just not ever made much sense to me.

Mark Mayer, post: 434782, member: 424 wrote: The maps and monuments clearly express the state's intent to acquire. The state cannot be adversely possessed against. Hold the mons and maps.

We are re visiting a taking from the 90s. Town road... The town counsel forgot to record the plans in the prescribed time and there are a dozen neighbors who are having the expanded layout vacated in front of their homes. I sure hope some kid does not get run over on their private property.
The lack of deeds should be noted. Some jacka... I mean attorney will jump all over it.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

They have special jacka.. courses in the second year of law school most places.:);):);)

Holy Cow, post: 434872, member: 50 wrote: They have special jacka.. courses in the second year of law school most places.:);):);)

Arrogance 101