Legal Descriptions

So what is a legal description? According to USLegal it’s “Legal description is the geographical description of a real estate property for the purpose of identifying the property for legal transactions. A legal description of the property unambiguously identifies the location, boundaries, and any existing easements on the property. A legal description of the real estate is usually provided in a deed, mortgage, or other purchase document. It can also be obtained from a county recorder, tax assessor, or similar official.” Basically it’s the basis for land ownership in the USA so it impacts a lot of things. Especially when they are old and impact items current day.

Really old descriptions can be from the 1800’s. Here is one from 1911.

And a slightly newer one from the 1980’s

So what do these look like? Do you have the original plat that was recorded with the description?

If you do not, OR if you want to see where several of these legal descriptions are in relation to one another we can plot them out for you. Seeing everything together in one map on an aerial is the easiest way to relate to the project.

This is also known as a meets and bounds description from a known point in what is known as “calls”. Several of these “calls” are strung together to describe the boundaries of a piece of land. Some descriptions can be pages long with some complicated angles and curves. Some can be as simple as the NW 1/4 of the NE 1/4 S 1/2 of section 9, Township 6 S Range 2 East.

If you know what all of that means and want a better way to view it or you would like some help making sense of it all, drop us a line we are more than happy to help decipher it all for you. Contact us

We find maps are needed in a lot of different professional areas. In this post we will explore a new area that is quite intriguing to us. Maps in the Legal Industry. Not what you were expecting? Let us dig a little deeper into this topic.

Or primary exposure to maps in the Legal Industry as been in the Real Property section. Things in this area revolve around property ownership. Not only who owns what right now but what does it look like? Who owned what when in the past? When was this road built?

Maps in the Legal Industry

Tracking legal descriptions of land through time is not an easy thing. Here is some more in depth reading if you are interested. Basically it is a definition of what a piece of land looks like and is the basis of land ownership in the US. Pretty much every piece of land out there has one. Sounds simple on the surface but have you ever read one? Not easy to understand.

That’s where the map steps in. Plotting all the individual calls to see the area that it covers. Sometimes this can be a Township/Range/Section or a complicated set of angles and distances with a curve or two thrown in.

These have been the basis of several legal cases we have been an expert witness to. Plotting out who owned what when and gathering all of that info up into one map (Print, Digital or Web) to assist the legal council in arguing their case.

Another example was a land rights case where council needed to know current owners with beach front access for many miles. They needed a working map and list to keep track of potential clients.

Lastly there was as road access case where council needed to know in historical documents if a road existed and when it was first noted. Tracking down historical notations and plotting them out to see what happened to this road over time.

All intriguing examples of how maps help illustrate complicated documents in an easy to understand format. From what we have heard some of the major cases we have been called in as an expert we have helped win the case overall.