It would be practicing law for a surveyor to write a deed for pay in some jurisdictions. It is not practicing law to write a description, nor to print a description onto a standard deed form or a deed written by an attorney or a deed written by the parties to the contract. There is more to a deed than the description.
If the client will not retain an attorney it would be a diservice to not provide a description under the guise of not wanting to practice law. You can email it, fax it, print it onto any medium. If the client screws it up because the rest of the deed is not adequate, then that's their problem, they should have hired an attorney. But they did hire a surveyor and should be able to get a decent description out of the bargain. I don't believe any of the laws prevent this.
Parties to a contract (such as a deed) can not be prevented from writing their own. That right is protected by the U.S. Constitution, and any law seeming to prevent it would be unconstitutional.
Looking back at the original post, in any jurisdiction where I have worked, landowners can write their own deeds. HOWEVER, the exchange of land is regulated by the boundary line adjustment process (enforced at City/County, not State level). Here in Washington, most places require a recorded survey, and some, not all, require new descriptions on the face of the survey. The parties can prepare the deeds however they want, typically a Warranty Deed.
> > I have written several deeds that were recorded and I am just a brush ape.
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> What do you mean, "just"?
I mean I'm not a surveyor or a lawyer.
Exactly. All the more reason for the surveyor not to remove themselves from the process based on the threat of practicing law without a license. Surveyors are supposed to help clients properly subdivide their land. Why would we want to brush off this service to someone else that will charge for it?
Have the parties find the exact instrument (Deed form) they need. Download from Legalzoom. com, (state specific), attach my description as a exhibit and there you go.
Its important to know for sure what form is needed. Shucks, I know couples that have downloaded divorce forms ( simple with no property to carve up) filed in District Court and moved on.
John Harmon
