Prepared by Tom Mastin PLS

Boundary Basics

Boundary retracements are based on Case Law. The case law used stems from the English Statute of Frauds from 1677. The United States and then the States use the Statute of Frauds as their basis for land transfers. For most boundary surveys the case law of interest is that of the States as they have jurisdiction over all but boundaries that involve State or Federal lines. Over the years there have been numerous cases on retracement of boundaries and most concepts of Boundary Retracement are well established through the case law. In California there have been relatively recent cases that change how both riparian and slide movement affect boundaries.

One original concept of the Statute of Frauds was that all transfers of land must be in writing. Over the years it became clear that there must be some exceptions to this and those exceptions are known as unwritten rights and have highest priority over all other land transfers. However as they are unwritten a land surveyor cannot determine if they exist only if there is potential for them to exist. It requires a court to take unwritten rights and make them a written contract. The most common type of unwritten rights are adverse possession, which is a fee (Real Property) transfer and prescriptive rights which are a transfer of a right of use (easement).

The order of importance therefore for land conveyances is:

• Unwritten rights
• Senior rights
• Written rights

In boundary retracements the process of establishing rights goes in the reverse order. First look at written rights then senior rights and final see if there are any potential unwritten rights.

Generally the vehicle for a land transfer is a deed, which is a type of contract. There are a number of different types of deeds that you might run across, such as a:

• Patent: Which is the first deed on the land that is conveyed by the government. A Patent is a type of Quitclaim Deed.
• Quitclaim deed: This is a deed where the grantor is conveying any interest they may have, but are not guaranteeing that they actually have interest in the property.
• Grant deed: This is the standard deed for conveying fee title to the land described and owned by the grantee.
• Trust deed: This is a deed that is used to indicate that the trustee has a binding contract that will hold the land in trust until the completion of the contract. This is basically what allows a bank to take land for non-payment of a loan.

Some documents are used in boundary retracements but do not convey any real property interest. It is important to understand that these documents are often useful in retracement, but do not convey interest.

• Quite Title action: This is a process that prevents any possible interest from ever making a claim.
• Final / Parcel Map: These are basically permits that allow land to be conveyed in the configuration shown on the maps (Although actually the monuments control the position).
• Record of Survey: This represents information on a field survey done by a licensed land surveyor
• Title Policy: This is an insurance policy, generally just insuring that those required to sign a deed to convey real property interest are listed.

Parts of a deed:

There are some general parts of a deed, that may or may not show up on every deed.

• Recording information
  • Will include the recording date, and may include additional information such as some sort of document number.
• Type of Deed
  • Grant Deed
  • Easement
  • Trust
• Grantor:
  • The entity that currently has the real property interest
• Grantee:
  • The entity that will end up with the real property interest and the completion of the contract.
• Execution date:
  • The date that the contract was completed. This usually is not the recording date but often will show up under the notary statement.

Parts of a Description:

Within the deed is the legal description that describes the real property being conveyed.

• Caption / Preamble:
  • This is a general description of the real property; can limit the body of the description by defining limitations. Courts look at this differently based on the situation.
• Body:
  • The definitive description of the real property. Sometimes this is in the preamble such as: Lot 12, in Block C of Tract 123 in the County of . . .
• Qualifiers:
  • This is something that impacts the transfer, and it can either remove land from the body or it can add an easement over the real property.
    • An exception removes from the land described in the body.
    • A reservations creates an easement over the property. Some qualifiers will use the term “Excepting and Reserving . . .”. The wording following this will tell you if it is either an exception or a reservation.

Boundary Retracement Procedures

As a surveyor we are only looking at written rights of our vesting deed and other vesting deeds that might affect our vesting deeds.

In general our task is to determine the intent of the deed on the land. We need to:

• Make every effort to determine the intent as written
• Be impartial in our evaluation
• Consider harmony over discord
• Report all facts found in our search for the boundary location

Courts look at the way the property was created as how it must be retraced. They see three methods of creation that affect retracement:

• Public Lands:
  • Those properties created through the United States Public Land process. In California the Courts say that retracement of public lands must use the same the procedures as a federal survey uses when doing a dependent resurvey.
• Sequential conveyances:
  • These are properties that were created from one parcel at different times. A common type of sequential conveyance is called a Metes and Bound conveyance.
• Simultaneous conveyances:
  • These are parcels that were created all at the same time. A Parcel Map or Final Map would be a good example.

Often a legal description is comprised of two or all three of these conveyance methods. and it is the responsibility of the surveyor to understand when to use the correct processes.

For more detailed information go to the following pages:

• Public Lands
• Sequential conveyances
• Simultaneous conveyances

There are many terms and concepts beyond what has been discussed in this short post. As someone preparing to sit for the exam, you should have studied the books on boundary as listed in the resource material page.

If you would like to try a short quiz tap on the start below

For some general reading about boundaries you might want to read the post “Responsibilities of a land surveyor” on this site