Five years ago a surveyor erroneously placed several lots on the ground. These lots were divided and conveyed.
I have recovered the original monuments and I have found an excessive overlap of these lots over the adjacent property.
I have attempted to contact the other surveyor with no response.
I have prepared a plan depicting the boundaries based on the original monuments. I have shown the limits of the other plans with a note that I do not agree with the placement of the lots. The attorney wants me to remove this information and only show the boundary.
I have essentially told the attorney to pound sand. If he does not like how I prepare plans he can find some whore like the one who prepared the plans with an excessive overlap.
How do you handle overlaps with similar circumstances?
Probably about like you did. I would hold the found pin, with the exception of the violating lot, and I would cut it off at the senior line.
Whewww, I didn't get a call!
I am having the same problem except the surveyor of record has skedaddled... same person Thadd?
You have to show the overlap, of course. It creates a color of title issue and you would be negligent in NOT showing it, in my opinion.
Tell the attorney that people in hell want ice water, too...
Show what you found and stand by it. That's what we do.
which boundary does he want you to show? The deeded boundary or the real boundary?
Probably would have done exactly what you did. Attorneys love to act this way. If you find a problem and try to solve the issues, it slows down the attorneys closing. He/she just wants you to hurry so he/she can cash the closing check. At least that's the way it sounds from here.
Ok,I am an up and coming surveyor "waiting on the results from my PLS test" After all this is resolved what happens? Does the position of the new monuments that were set erroneously hold since new lots were created? Or will they no longer be valid since you did the due diligence and found the original monuments? I know this could go a lot of ways but am interested to hear what everyone thinks of the situation.
Thanks
Wish there was a cut and dried answer.
As for my 40 plus years experienced knee-jerk first impression:
A corner marked in the wrong place is still wrong...no matter how long it stays in the ground. A blunder is a blunder. (I can hear all the other keyboards clattering now...)
What compounds the level of complexity is when property owners act upon blundered corners and create a multitude of bona fide rights and possessions. Happily, most of those problems are outside of our professional skill-set and should be adjudicated.
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What would the attorney's reaction be if you advised him what to include or exclude in documents or opinions he prepares for his clients?
If your notes express legal conclusions, the attorney may have a point and you may be well advised to take another look at how you are expressing oyour opinions or justifying your conclusions.
If your notes address the technical use of boundary evidence according to the clear and well settled principles given to us by the law for the use of evidence, and your notes keep to the technical application of those principles, then they are something you certainly should include. The only suggestions I would accept in that case might be suggestion for changes to improve clarity and understanding.
What's the difference between stating legal conclusions and addressing the use of evidence according to well established legal principles?
If you seem to be advocating for a particular solution when two or more could be reasonably arrived at by use of the same evidence by equally competent surveyors, then you are going beyond the mere unbiased application of principles and moving into the advocacy of expressing legal conclusions (making arguments - inherently with some bias).
Had a similar situation early in my practice where a corner of a new home violated the building setback line of the zoning ordinance. Attorney told me to remove the setback lines and "just show the distance to the property line with no setback lines", or the closing might be held up and I could be facing a "law suit". I said fine, just send me a letter stating what you just said on your letterhead and signed by you! Upon receipt I will place a note on the survey stating that you instructed me to remove the building setback lines which I did under duress and threat of a law suit, and I will submit your letter with the survey for recording at the county courthouse and deliver copies to the county bar association. He then told me he would not be needing my survey and would never use my services again. I said "suits me just fine" and hung up.
> Ok,I am an up and coming surveyor "waiting on the results from my PLS test" After all this is resolved what happens? Does the position of the new monuments that were set erroneously hold since new lots were created? Or will they no longer be valid since you did the due diligence and found the original monuments? I know this could go a lot of ways but am interested to hear what everyone thinks of the situation.
> Thanks
you can't sell what you don't own. (Tommy's answer sounds right to me.)
I would need to see the plan and the previous survey as well as the affidadvit before I could answer the question. I would also have to know what the landowners have done if anything because of the survey in question.