4.3 Deeds, Conveyances, and Description Elements

The Deed and Its Essential Elements

A deed is a written instrument that conveys an interest in real property from a grantor (the party transferring) to a grantee (the party receiving). For boundary work, the deed matters because it carries the legal description that identifies the land. To be valid, a deed must contain certain essential elements:

• A competent grantor (legal age, sound mind, authority to convey).
• An identifiable grantee named with reasonable certainty.
• Words of conveyance (the granting clause—e.g., "grant, bargain, and sell").
• An adequate legal description of the land.
• The grantor's signature (the grantee does not sign).
• Delivery and acceptance—the deed takes effect only when delivered by the grantor and accepted by the grantee.

Note what is not required for validity. Consideration need only be recited (often nominally, "$10 and other valuable consideration"); actual payment is not essential. Acknowledgment (notarization) is usually required only to record the deed, not to make it valid between the parties. And recording is never an element of validity—a delivered, accepted deed is fully effective between grantor and grantee even if it is never recorded. Recording protects the grantee against later claimants by giving constructive notice.

Types of Deeds and Their Warranties

The type of deed tells you what the grantor promises about title—important context, though the surveyor maps the land regardless of warranty type.

A frequent exam trap: a quitclaim deed conveys whatever interest the grantor actually has—which could be nothing. It is not a statement that the grantor owns the land, only a release of any interest the grantor may hold. The habendum clause ("to have and to hold") follows the granting clause and defines or limits the estate conveyed; it cannot enlarge an estate beyond what the granting clause grants.

Forms of Land Description

Surveyors must recognize how the land is described, because each form is read differently:

1. Metes and bounds — a perimeter traverse of bearings (courses) and distances tied to monuments and adjoiners, closing on the point of beginning.
2. Lot and block — references a recorded subdivision plat ("Lot 6, Block 2, Sunset Addition"); the plat supplies the dimensions and monuments.
3. Aliquot parts (PLSS) — divisions of the Public Land Survey System (e.g., "the NE 1/4 of the SW 1/4 of Section 14").
4. Strip / right-of-way — describes a band of given width along a centerline.
5. Reference description — incorporates another instrument by reference ("the same land conveyed in Deed Book 412, Page 88").

When a description is ambiguous or conflicting, the surveyor reads it to find the intent of the parties, considering the whole instrument rather than seizing on one isolated figure. An apparent error in one call does not void the deed if the intended land can still be located from the remaining evidence. This sets up the priority-of-calls rules that resolve direct conflicts among monuments, courses, distances, and area, covered in the next section.

Anatomy of a Deed and Reading Descriptions

A typical deed is organized into recognizable parts, and a surveyor should be able to name each and know which carries the land description:

Two terms are routinely confused on the exam. An exception withholds from the conveyance a part of the described land or an existing interest ("less and except the north 30 feet"), while a reservation creates a new right in the grantor's favor (such as a reserved easement) that did not exist before. Both reduce what the grantee effectively receives, but they operate differently.

When reading a metes-and-bounds description, the surveyor follows the courses and distances in sequence from the point of beginning (POB), watching for calls to monuments and adjoiners that may control over the stated dimensions. A well-written description closes—the last course returns to the POB. If it does not close, or if a call is internally inconsistent, the surveyor flags the discrepancy and looks to the controlling evidence (typically monuments) rather than blindly trusting the numbers.

The guiding rule throughout is to give effect to the intent of the parties read from the four corners of the whole instrument, harmonizing every call where possible and discarding only a call that cannot be reconciled.