DANE
"What does the evidence show? I would need evidence to support MY OPINION that the grantor intended to retain an unsubdivided remainder parcel. My opinion does not impart marketable title."
I agree with this statement 100%.
I am not advocating just making it up out of thin air.
(I can't figure out how to do the quote thing.)
Dane
Yes, Surveyor authority is limited, obviously. The Land Surveyor effectively has no authority other than what the land owners want to grant to him. I have a responsibility to make my best judgment but no power to impose it.
I don't own a black robe or a mahogany paneled room with a high dais at one end and everyone doesn't stand up and salute when I walk in.
But if I had to send my client to court every time I found a minor discrepancy then I would never get anything done. It would be great if I could track down the 250 descendents of a Grantor last seen 80 years ago and get their quitclaim deeds but I don't think the law absolutely requires it in every case. Obviously if one of the adjoiners wants to cause problems, they can and it may take an extremely time consuming and costly trip to a court room to resolve it.
Nothing I say is meant to be a blanket statement of truth applicable to every possible scenario.
Dave why?
Why? Why do you make the leap to the absurd notion that we are talking about everytime, a surveyor has to go to court? I am not advocating that. I believe that the surveyor NEEDS to be able to recognize WHEN the situation calls for more that a survey solution. I think we are in essential agreement, but maybe not.
Frankly, Dane
Dane, I'm trying to figure out what your beef is most of the time so maybe I took a blind stab at it.
I know not to say we agree (even when I suspect so) because that seems to ignite some uncontrollable keyboard slamming passion.
I don't want to be too direct about it because you might sledge hammer your keyboard into powder.
Frankly, Dave
My keyboard is fine. I do not have a beef. I appreciate the discussion with you.
Richard Mr. Ince
It is not the 'limited authority' of a surveyor that is important, it is the information that the surveyor must provide his client.
The most important information in a resurvey is the magnitude of inaccuracy in the record description. Especially if continued use of the inaccurate record description would result in a fraudulent land transaction.
While the correction of the record can only be accomplished when the surveyor has an agency relationship with the owner of record or an owner who has acquired title through adverse possession, the surveyor must notify whoever his client is when the surveyor finds the need to correct the record exists.
Study the two paragraphs after the subheading 'Background' in the July 2007 ALTA/ACSM Accuracy standards:
Background
The lines and corners on any property survey have uncertainty in location which is the result of (1) availability and condition of reference monuments, (2) occupation or possession lines as they may differ from record lines, (3) clarity or ambiguity of the record descriptions or plats of the surveyed tracts and its adjoiners and (4) Relative Positional Accuracy.
The first three sources of uncertainty must be weighed as evidence in the determination of where, in the professional surveyor's opinion, the boundary lines and corners should be placed.
It is 'the professional surveyor's opinion' that he develops from the recovery and analysis of the physical evidence that is in place and honored by the affected owners that determines the location of the boundary lines, not the terms of the record description. We are only reporting the acts of the owners, they have the responsibility to maintain original boundaries and the authority to replace the original boundaries with boundaries of their choice.
Therefore, it is the surveyor, not lawyers or judges, who must know the law and legal fundamentals that determine when an occupation line becomes a property line. That said, a judge will always have the authority to review the surveyor's work so you better be basing your opinion on the same legal principles and laws that the judge will use.
Richard Schaut
Frankly, Dave
Good, glad to hear it, me too.
"Surveyors job is resolve ambiguity not create it."
I agree 100% with that statement.
I think many times the problem is non recognition that there is ambiguity. The problem is the surveyor doesn't see the problem or maybe doesn't want to see a problem that requires work and delay's.