Legal Descriptions and Conveyances – Half Day or Full Day (Nominally 4.0 or 8.0 Contact Hours)
A key component of any conveyance of real property is the interpretation of the deed of conveyance and, in particular, the description of the property, often referred to as the “legal description.” It is often said the when it comes to the interpretation of a deed of conveyance “intent is king.” Nevertheless, the absolute “keys to the kingdom” are ambiguities in the documents of conveyance. This presentation examines the law that applies to the conveyance of real property and the interpretation of these conveyances, including ambiguities. Fundamental issues affecting property law will be discussed through court cases and the problem of resolving conflicts in the written instrument (patent ambiguities) and conflicts between the written instrument and the physical evidence on the ground (latent ambiguities) will be analyzed. Monuments and the role they play in the interpretation of legal descriptions will be discussed and studied. Senior/junior rights and so-called “unwritten conveyances” will be studied. Problem legal descriptions and interpretation problems will be discussed in detail. Issues affecting title and the Marketable Record Title Act (MRTA) will be studied. Re-writing bad legal descriptions, pros and cons, will be discussed. Several case studies will be examined on the issues involving the conveyance of real property and involving the property description contained therein. This presentation assumes that participants are familiar with writing legal descriptions, therefore, the fundamentals of writing legal descriptions are only covered in passing. This program will be accompanied by a Power Point presentation.
OBJECTIVES: To enhance professional competency and improve practitioner’s knowledge of the law as it relates to the practice of land surveying.