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CHAPTER 2:PROPERTY RIGHTS AND LEGAL DESCRIPTIONS

LEGAL FORMS OF LAND DESCRIPTIONFORMS OF CO-OWNERSHIP

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Legal Forms of Land Description

1. Metes and Bounds

2. Subdivision Plat Lot and Block Number

3. Government Rectangular Survey

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Methods of Land Description:Metes and Bounds

Metes=distances and bounds=boundaries Used for surveying land in the original 13

colonies and to describe irregular parcels of land originally described by rectangular survey.

The beginning point is marked by a monument (natural or artificial) and may also point out one or two other markers as a means of triangulation.

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Methods of Land Description:Metes and Bounds

A sequence of directed distances:• Compass directed “walk around property”

• Establishing point of beginning is critical

Oldest form of acceptable land description Most flexible form Most difficult to interpret Should be made or interpreted only by

surveyors

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Metes and BoundsDescription: Example

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Methods of Land Description:Subdivision Plat Lot and Block Number

Subdivision survey map in public records identifies lot by block and lot number

Lot and block number sufficient to describe parcel

Dominant form of urban land description

Map shows numerous features

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Subdivision Plat Lotand Block: Example

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Methods of Land Description:Government Rectangular Survey

Employed in most states to describe rural and suburban land with major exceptions being the 13 original colonies along with Hawaii and Texas

Surveying with this system began in 1785 by direction of Congress and falls under the responsibilities of the Bureau of Land Management and Department of the Interior.

Surveyors were instructed to locate and mark by monuments a series of 35 points.

To date, 1.5 billion acres have been surveyed from the Florida Keys to Point Barrow, Alaska and East Liverpool, Ohio to San Diego with 2.6 million section corners marked.

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Methods of Land Description:Government Rectangular Survey

Basic reference points• Baseline• Principal meridian

Measures of distance• Range lines (east and west boundaries of a township -

numbered consecutively from the principal meridian)• Tier lines (north and south boundaries of a township)

Units• Township - six mile square (can be squarely oriented north-

south or can be six miles square but not both)• Section - a one mile square with 36 sections in a township• Check - a 24 mile square composed of 16 townships - used to

correct for the expansion of the southern boundaries

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Baselines and Principal Meridiansof the United States

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A Township

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R26E

R27E

R2E

R1W

R1E

NW1/4

SW1/4

SE1/4

NW 1/4of NE 1/4

Tallahassee Principal Meridian

6 12345

7 8 9 1110 12

18 1314151617

19 20 21 22 23 24

252627282930

31 32 33 34 35 36

Township:Range 27 E,Tier 24 S

Jacksonville

Tallahassee

Orlando

Base LineT 2 N

T 1 ST 2 S

R2E

R1W

R2W

T 1 N

T 23 ST 24 S

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Subdividing a Section

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Other Forms of Land Description

1. Reference to documents other

than maps2. Informal reference3. Assessor’s parcel number

• Note that these are NOT legal forms of land description

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Advances in Surveying

• The development of Global Positioning

system in the 1980s for the military and its eventual civilian use has changed the nature of the way we navigate, create maps, and describe land.

•Descriptions of land boundaries can be much more precise due to GPS technology but can also initiate more disputes over land boundaries

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Forms of Ownership

• Sole ownership (estate in severalty)

• Tenants in common• Joint tenancy• Community property• Partnership• Corporation

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Advantages of Sole Ownership

•Flexibility•No sharing of profits

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Disadvantages of Sole Ownership

•Capital intensive•No shared expertise in decisions•Full responsibility and liability

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Tenants in Common•Each owner has an undivided interest in the whole property.

•Each owner’s interest does not have to be the same size.

•Each owner can independently sell, mortgage, give away, or dispose his individual interest.•Tenancy in common is established in the deed by naming co-owners as tenant in common.•Each co-owner is responsible for his proportionate share of property taxes, repairs, upkeep, etc.•If a co-owner dies, his interest passes to his heirs or named devisees.

•No right of survivorship (the remaining co-owners do not acquire the deceased’s interest unless they are named in the will).

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Tenants in Common

Tenants in Common

One parcel of land;

Three owners with unity of possession

What happens if C dies?

C’s heirs

AA BB CC

AA BB

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Joint Tenancy• Right of survivorship - when one joint tenant dies, his

rights to the property are extinguished and the other joint tenants are left as owners.

• Four unities must be present:1. Unity of time - joint tenancy must be created

simultaneously2. Unity of title - joint tenants acquire their interests

from the same source (ex. Same deed or will)3. Unity of interest - joint tenants own one interest

together and each joint tenant has exactly the same rights

4. Unity of possession - all joint tenants have use of the entire property, and no individual owns a particular part of it (Note: unity of possession is the only unity essential to tenancy in common)

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Joint Tenancy

Joint Tenancy with Right of Survivorship

One parcel of land;

Three owners, four unities (PITT):

Possession, Interest, Time, Title

If C dies?

C

AA BB CC

AA BB

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Co-ownership in Marriage

• Tenancy by the Entirety• Community Property• Separate Property

• Note: in the event of divorce, these forms of ownership convert to tenancy in common.

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Advantages of Tenancy by the Entirety

•Protects one spouse from conveying or mortgaging the couple’s property without the knowledge of the other•Provides some protection against forced sale of property to satisfy a debt judgment against one of the spouses•Features an automatic right of survivorship

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Disadvantages of Tenancy by the Entirety

•Provides for no one except the surviving spouse•May create tax problems•Does not replace the need for a will to direct how the couple’s personal property should be disposed

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Community Property

•Ten states recognize community property (comes from Spanish and French laws)•Spouses contribute equally and jointly to the marriage and should share equally in any property purchased during the marriage.•Each spouse can name in his or her will the person to receive his or her 1/2 interest. It does not have to go to the remaining spouse but does in most cases by default if no other heir is stated.

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Separate Property

•Property owned before marriage and property inherited after marriage by gift, inheritance, or purchase with separate funds is known as separate property and is exempted from community property.

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Other Forms of Ownership

•Partnership•Corporation•Trust