What is the difference between the terms "parent tract" vs "larger parcel". Has anyone run into this? Any guidance would be appreciated.
Think in terms of junior vs senior rights.
Everything started as patented land. After that they made tracts, then smaller ones, then smaller ones..... Parent vs Larger seems a chicken vs egg type of question.
No legal backing for this opinion, but I'd say:
A "parent tract" to the parcel of interest was specifically the larger one it was once a part of, and
a "larger parcel" is any one that is bigger than another, but someone might use the term loosely and ambiguously to mean the parent tract.
We deal with some subdivision ordinances where when you make a division the "larger" piece of the original retains the original's rights and the "smaller" of the pieces is considered the "subdivided" parcel - regardless of which is being sold.
So context may come into play.
Funny....I was just wondering about nearly the same thing (but without the "parent" or "larger" words). I have been writing legal descriptions for years where I start out with thr phrase: "A tract or parcel of land....." because that is the language I learned. Are those just a redundancy of words, or is there a difference between "tract" and "parcel"?
The most common use of the term I've seen is the 'larger piece that something is carved out of'. Very often seen in reference to the 'Parent Parcel' of a lease site.
As for junior / senior 'It Depends' on the language used to carve out the new piece...
Parent tract usually refers to the owner's or an estate's original block of property before any divisions were made.
Most of the tracts that were deeded from the block are reference as beginning at a monument that is located in relation to some corner of that original block of land, named as the parent tract.
> Funny....I was just wondering about nearly the same thing (but without the "parent" or "larger" words). I have been writing legal descriptions for years where I start out with thr phrase: "A tract or parcel of land....." because that is the language I learned. Are those just a redundancy of words, or is there a difference between "tract" and "parcel"?
I have often wondered the same thing while reading deeds.
@chris-duncan?ÿ The Pierce County assessor here in Washington State calls the new subdivided parcels Children or Child parcels underneath they list as children parcels below the parent parcel or tract that gave birth to 63 child parcels. On the assessor's website when you look up a parcel number the new parcels would be listed as children parcels below the parent parcel number.