A New Way to Screw Up a Deed
On a boundary retracement, I plotted the description for my subject parcel and each of the adjoiners. Everything fits well, save for one parcel that simply didn't work at all. The dimensons and calls just didn't describe a parcel that came anywhere close to fitting in the slot it should have. The calls for adjoiners were also goofy, the right names but in places that couldn't have possibly worked.
After scratching my head long enough, I realize that many of the calls actually did correspond with adjoining calls, but they are just in the wrong place. If I mirrored the tract in both the X and Y axis, it fit perfectly...
Finally dawned on me what must have happened. Whoever wrote the legal description (probably an attorney) had the original surveyor's map in front of them. That plat had calls that described the parcel clockwise. The attorney drafting the metes and bounds copied the calls verbatim.. except they went around the tract counterclockwise. The result is a description that when plotted, has the same closure as the source map, but is inverted in both axes.
To correct, I simply reversed each call, but still plotted the deed from top to bottom. Fit perfectly.
This description had been used across several conveyances for over 30 years. How??
To correct, I simply reversed each call, but still plotted the deed from top to bottom. Fit perfectly.
I don't get it... if all they did is switch NE to SW then it should still be fine. Are you saying they swapped NE to NW?
The calls were the correct bearing, but ordered in reverse. Instead of POB, Call 1, 2, 3, 4, Back to POB, the description was written POB, Call 4, 3, 2, 1, Back to POB. If they had reversed the bearings when writing, you are correct it would have worked fine. But they gave clockwise bearings in a counterclockwise order.
Oh, I see. Yeah, that's funny then... rookie mistake.
This is an example where can either shine like a diamond or suck up light like a black hole.
There is only one way you can fit this deed on the ground. Walk the owners through the cleanup and keep the peace. That is bright, shiny, sparkly, and a professional service. Alternatively, force everyone to file useless and confusing quit claim deeds without memorializing what you discovered, thereby setting traps for everyone that will destroy thier wealth in the future. That is the black hole method. It can be identified by the aroma of a septic tank decades past its recommended service date...
Had to be an attorney.
