I'm looking at what I'd call a case of short deeding. I've seen this before.
A description will come down through the decades, usually a metes without bounds, and then all of a sudden the description will have calls usually to a fence. Around here its quite common that a title company will rewrite a description and add the calls based upon whatever, maybe a survey of an adjoining parcel are maybe an as-surveyed description and use it for the next conveyance.
In the specific case I'm looking at I think the seller used the short deeding for a warranty deed to limit their liability to only the limits of the fence. Maybe its a form of one sided acquiescence where the seller only warrants and conveys to the occupation limits.
So what about the land, if there is any, that may have belonged to the seller on the other side of the fence. They sort of abandoned it, didn't convey it to the new buyer, but didn't convey it to the adjoiner either. If you are surveying the adjoiner where would you show the boundary?
I know it's quite a common thing for descriptions to get updated after a survey. I suppose if all that is happening is that the distances and bearings between the same corner marks are getting tweaked and its pretty solid that the before and after boundaries are the same (just different numbers), there is no harm done only a bit a confusion added to the record with a way to sort it out.
What I'm seeing is something I think is quite different, Descriptions getting modified to add stuff that was never there to start with and that probably changed the location of a boundary line. Only a party on one side of the line involved.
Does this sort of thing go on about everywhere?
I've seen similar things. My theory is that the title underwriters (deed gremlins) are fast at work "tweaking" time honored boundary descriptions to lessen their liability.
Nobody finds the pile they leave until the property changes hands, again. By that time they're long gone.
That's a new one for me. Most people aren't smart enough to even try to rewrite descriptions without outside help doing it for them. It should be blantantly obvious to anyone else following the title trail that something bizarre just happened.
I've seen some surveyors do a version of it. Sort of the combo fence line/deed staker. They'd calc up the stakeout boundary. Send a crew out (one trip service) with the instructions that if the line crossed the fence put the marker in the fence. If the corner didn't reach the fence stake it in the field. They don't waste any time talking with landowners either.
A landowner can basically get this service for free these days, just pull it up on a GIS.
You must deal with more complicated descriptions. What I see is starting at N and E of a section corner, thence N,E,S & W to POB. Anybody with elementary math can do it. The title companies can even do the exotic stuff, right along with surveyors. One thing one local title company hasn't caught on to is basis of bearing. They always leave it out when they rewrite a description. Just needless fluff I suppose. Isn't north always the same direction? Why would you need to make a statement about the direction of north in a description?
Does this seem similar to the practice in my area of writing the description to the edge of the road, even though nothing can be found to show the town has fee simple ownership but rather seems to have a ROW?
No, the TCs here don't mess with descriptions like that.
A good reason to require a PLS to write legal descriptions.
