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Title Concepts

SURV 201
Land Description Systems I
Lecture Notes

Instructor: John Lauritzen, PLS


Created by: Jon Purnell, PLS

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Sources of Title

Title is the means or authority


by which possession is justified

Title is not ownership, but


evidence of ownership

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Some Sources of Title

• Title by Conquest • Title by involuntary


of War alienation
• Title by patent or • Title by adverse
grant possession
• Title by deed or • Title by eminent
private grant domain
• Title by descent • Title by escheat
• Title by will • Title by dedication
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Title by Conquest of War

• The world is replete with examples of


title obtained by right of conquest
• In the United States, the idea of
Manifest Destiny was used to justify
the expansion of the nation from sea
to sea

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Title by Patent

• In the United States, this was


essentially a deed from the federal
government
• Land patents are a feature of the
Public Land States
• The instrument by which public lands
were granted to individuals
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Title by Grant

• Some land grants were like patents, but


were issued by a foreign authority; others
were issued by the United States to the
railway companies, or to the states
• The majority of Washington’s state forest
lands were granted to the state by the
federal government for the support of
common schools, universities, and the
Capitol campus at Olympia
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Title by Deed

• The instrument by which private


property rights are transferred
between individuals or entities
• There are many types of deeds used
under specific circumstances, e.g.
“warranty deed”, “quitclaim deed”

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Title by Descent

• In the absence of a will, the passing


of title interests to lawful heirs
• See: RCW11.04.015: Descent and
distribution of real and personal
estate

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Title by Will

• The passing of title interests per the


provisions of a last will and testament
• See RCW Chapter 11.12

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Title by Escheat

• The passing of property interest to


the state upon the death of an
individual who has no heirs
• Roots in feudal times, right of the
lord to reenter the premises upon the
extinction of the blood line of the
tenant
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Title by Involuntary
Alienation
• Loss of property rights through tax
foreclosure or failure to pay other debts
• A large portion of Washington’s State
forest lands were acquired when the
owners, who had harvested the valuable
timber, failed to pay county property
taxes. More lands were foreclosed upon
during the Great Depression

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Title by Adverse Possession

• An unwritten transfer of title related


to occupation and use of property for
a statutory period
• Once the elements of adverse
possession are satisfied, transfer of
interest occurs

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Title by Eminent Domain

• The appropriation of private property


rights for public use and benefit
• Right of the state to reassert
ownership for the public good
• Also known as “condemnation”
• Grantor is compensated for the lands
so appropriated
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Title by Dedication
• Property rights granted by an individual or
entity to the public
• Converse of eminent domain
• Example: dedication of a street in a
privately developed subdivision to the
public for its use
• Public must accept the dedication for it to
be valid
• May be expressed or implied
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Modes of Transfer of Title

• Voluntary • Involuntary
– Patent or Grant – Eminent Domain
– Will – Involuntary
– Deed Alienation
– Dedication – Escheat
– Descent
– Adverse Possession
– War or Conquest

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Methods of Transfer of
Title
• Written • Unwritten
– Patent or Grant – Adverse
– Will Possession
– Deed – Escheat
– Dedication – War or Conquest
– Eminent Domain – Descent
– Involuntary
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Methods of Transfer

• Involuntary transfers do not


always require written
documentation

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Methods of Transfer

• Voluntary transfers must be in


writing and recorded in a public
repository
– Unless stated otherwise, are presumed
to be a fee simple conveyance, that is
that the grantor has unconditional power
to dispose of the estate

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Elements of the Written
Transfer
• Identity of the parties involved
• Wording that conveys and describes the
interest(s) transferred from the grantor
to the grantee
• Wording that describes the compensation
received by the grantor
• A unique and unambiguous description of
the premises
• Witnessed and recorded
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Bibliography

• American Congress on • Brown, C.M., W.G.


Surveying and Mapping, Robilliard, and D.A. Wilson,
Definitions of Surveying Evidence and Procedures
and Associated Terms, for Boundary Location, 2nd
ACSM, Washington, D.C. Ed, John Wiley & Sons,
• Black, H.C., Blacks Law New York
Dictionary, West Publishing • Wattles, G.H., Writing
Co., St.Paul, MN Legal Descriptions, G.H.
• Brown, C.M., Boundary Wattles Publications,
Control and Legal Orange, CA.
Principles, 2nd Ed, John
Wiley & Sons, New York
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Deed Descriptions

• The part of the deed that defines the


physical limits of the interest or land
conveyed by the deed
• Caption: describes the general locality of
the property
• Body: provides more specific information
regarding the shape, size and orientation
of the property
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Deed Descriptions
(continued)
• Qualifying Statements are included to
describe encumbrances affecting the
parcel
• Augmenting Clauses are included to
describe easements which are appurtenant
to the parcel
• Exceptions are used to exclude discrete
areas from from the description
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Deed Descriptions:
The Caption
• Serves to limit the area being described:
That portion of section 29, Township 29
North, Range 2 West, W.M., Clallam County
Washington, described as follows:
• Identifies land in Clallam County only!
• The part of section 29 in Jefferson County
is excluded by the caption

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Deed Descriptions:
The Body
• Provides more specific
information about the parcel:
Commencing at the West 1/4 corner of said
section, as evidenced by a 3/4" pipe in a metal
case; thence S 55º47'49" E - 879.05 feet to the
North corner of that parcel of land deeded to the
State of Washington recorded in Volume 171 of
deeds, page 583, records said county; thence S
46º45'10" E - 135.41 feet along the Northeast line
of said parcel.…
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Deed Descriptions:
Qualifying Statements
• Describe the rights others may have
acquired previously:
Subject to an easement for a buried
water pipeline granted to the city of
Sequim under Application Number
40198 filed with the Commissioner of
Public Lands at Olympia, Washington.
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Deed Descriptions:
Augmenting Clauses
• Describe additional rights that “run
with the property”:

Together with an easement for


ingress and egress granted to the
State of Washington recorded in
Volume 375 of deeds, page 151,
records said county.
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Deed Descriptions:
Exceptions
• Used to simplify a description by
“cutting out” a described parcel from
the whole.
• The grantee gets the remainder:
• Government lot 4, except the east
200 feet thereof

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Descriptions Must:

• must be locatable on the ground


(surveyable)
• must not be subject to multiple
interpretations
• identify the physical location of a legal
interest in land (hence the term, legal
description)
• describe exactly and correctly the intent
of the grantor
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Legal Description =
Land Description =
Deed Description

• "Yesterday's land descriptions are the


cause of tomorrow's boundary problems.”
• "A well written land description is a
property owner's first line of defense
against boundary problems.”--Bill Glassey,
PLS in a paper presented to the Land
Surveyor's Association of Washington,
February, 1998
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Bibliography

• American Congress on • Brown, C.M., W.G.


Surveying and Mapping, Robilliard, and D.A. Wilson,
Definitions of Surveying Evidence and Procedures
and Associated Terms, for Boundary Location, 2nd
ACSM, Washington, D.C. Ed, John Wiley & Sons,
• Black, H.C., Blacks Law New York
Dictionary, West Publishing • Wattles, G.H., Writing
Co., St.Paul, MN Legal Descriptions, G.H.
• Brown, C.M., Boundary Wattles Publications,
Control and Legal Orange, CA.
Principles, 2nd Ed, John
Wiley & Sons, New York
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