Oklahoma State Statute requires descriptions prepared by a licensed surveyor to meet the following minimum standards:
Minimum Standards for Legal Descriptions.
1. Metes and bounds descriptions prepared shall at a minimum contain the following items:
A. A preamble containing the Quarter Section, Section, Township, Range, Principal Meridian (Indian or Cimarron) and the County and/ or City of the tract of land being described or a preamble containing the Lot and/or Block number, subdivision name and if available, the recording information of the plat and the City, if applicable, and
County in which it is filed of record, and
B. A beginning point (if applicable) referenced to a point such as a section corner, quarter-section corner, sixteenth section corner, or a Lot/Block corner of a recorded subdivision, and
C. Distances listed to the nearest hundredth of a foot (if surveyed), and
D. Bearings or angles listed in degrees, minutes and seconds (if surveyed), and
E. A reference to all bearings shown must be clearly stated, i.e., whether to
‘True North’; ‘Grid North as established by state plane datum’; ‘Assumed North
based on the bearing of a well established line’; a ‘Deed call for a
particular line’; or ‘the bearing of a particular line shown upon a plat’, and
F. Curved lines with circular curves shall show:
1. Direction of the curve (right or left);
2. The radius;
3. Arc distance; and
4. Chord distance and chord bearing, and
G. The name and license number of the professional surveyor who prepared the description, and
H. The date of preparation of the legal description, and
I. Each metes and bounds description must return to the Point of Beginning and close mathematically within the allowable closure error stated in this subchapter.
2. Aliquot descriptions may be used in lieu of a metes and bounds description and shall at a minimum contain the following items: Quarter Section, Section, Township, Range, Principal Meridian (Indian or Cimarron), city (if applicable) and the County of the tract of land being described.
3. Lot and block description may be used in lieu of a metes and bounds description and shall at a minimum contain the following items: Lot and/or Block number, subdivision name, City (if applicable),the County in which it is filed of record and, if available, the recording information of the plat.
4. A written legal description of the surveyed tract of land must provide sufficient information to locate the property on the ground and distinctly set it apart from all adjoining properties.
In Item 1-B (italicized) the Statute states that the description must have a beginning point referenced to a point such as...
My Question:
If a beginning point in a description stated something like, "Beginning at the SW Corner of a tract of land described by Warranty Deed and recorded in Book 4567, Page 898..." ; do you think it meets the minimum standards when that point is clearly tied to a Public Land Survey Corner in the referenced document (without actually giving the ties in the newly prepared description) ?
Tied to a point such as... I take the list as examples. A point in a recorded instrument should comply.
No!
"B. A beginning point (if applicable) referenced to a point such as a section corner, quarter-section corner, sixteenth section corner, or a Lot/Block corner of a recorded subdivision, and ..."
The tie reference needs to be in the description. Typically a tie could be...
"commencing at the intersection of the easterly sideline of North Street extended and the northerly sideline of East Street extended; thence easterly along the northerly sideline of East Street the following 3 courses
A.) ****
B.) ****
C.) **** to the Point of Beginning; thence"
The above can be surveyed without any monument calls other than the streets.
Paul in PA
This could get interesting
At first blush it would seem that calling to an existing tract corner would be adequate. On the other hand, I can see where that could be too iffy. I believe the intent is to demand that one reference either an aliquot corner or a recorded plat of subdivision corner of significance. Typically, we are expected to start from a section corner, quarter corner or significant subdivision corner. Starting from some pre-existing metes and bounds corner is not allowed, to the best of my knowledge.
I hadn't given this a great deal of deep thought. It just kind of makes sense. You should have a point of commencing that has a minimum of doubt as to its origin.
I know it's just me, but I believe my legal description should be a "stand alone" document that gives future users everything they need to locate my points without having to go to the Court House and get copies of 17 previous deeds to figure out what I am trying to do.
Reference to previous recorded deeds is great additional information, but I don't use it as the final version. Deed references should be additionaldata. Otherwise I could save a ton of time by simply saying, "A 4 acre tract of land as recorded in Deed Book XXX at Page XXX of the records of.............".
You could drive a truck through these "standards".
> B. A beginning point (if applicable)...
The "if applicable" part takes most of the teeth out of the requirement, I think.
> .... referenced to a point such as...
More teeth gone. Indefinite language like "such as" and "referenced to" leaves all kinds of room for interpretation. A reference to a blue gumball meets the standard. And it only has to be "referenced to" such a blue gumball, not specifically called out. Good luck to the state board enforcing that.
>If a beginning point in a description stated something like, "Beginning at the SW Corner of a tract of land described by Warranty Deed and recorded in Book 4567, Page 898..." ; do you think it meets the minimum standards when that point is clearly tied to a Public Land Survey Corner in the referenced document (without actually giving the ties in the newly prepared description) ?
The Board is not going to touch the writer of such a legal. A point is referenced. And, furthermore, if that was as bad as it got I'd be doing the happy dance.
"Beginning at the SW Corner of a tract of land described by Warranty Deed and recorded in Book 4567, Page 898..." ; do you think it meets the minimum standards when that point is clearly tied to a Public Land Survey Corner in the referenced document (without actually giving the ties in the newly prepared description) ?"
Why not simply repeat the tie from the earlier deed:
Beginning at the SW Corner of a tract of land described by Warranty Deed and recorded in Book 4567, Page 898, from which the Southeast corner of Section 8, etc., bears...
Maybe with some qualification that the tie is record, not measured by you.
Don
Before the days of restrictions on land divisions, it was not unusual to see a description of a small tract inside a section that read; Commencing at the Northeast Corner of Section 8, Township 2 South, Range 26 East of the Willamette Meridian; Thence South 35° West a distance of 3500 Feet to the Point of Beginning; Thence .....
Without found evidence on the ground is was hard to retrace, especially with steel tapes and Theodolites, Bearing Base? Maybe that is why the BB is now required. Better today, primarily because the increased population density has caused more surveys to be done resulting in more recovered GLO Corners or a Plat of some type to tie to. Also the quality of the surveys being done has improved, the Old boys who were surveying before 1947 or in the early days after Filing requirement came along are now gone. Knew some of them, evidence found or set seemed to be considered private property of the surveyor who recovered or set the monuments, they hid many corners, bet a lot of that goes on today in the non filing states but that would not be as effective as it was before pin finders, they have exposed some pin cushions that were probably resulted the hiding of evidence in the past.
jud
