Texas Courts have ruled that the specification of acreage is the “least reliable data point” in a legal description. For example, if a description describes a distance and course “to a steel pin,” where, in reality, the distance and course do not arrive at the pin, then the location of the steel pin will control over the conflicting distance or course description.

That is to say, a court will look to preferred portions of the description to form a complete image of the parcel of land which is conveyed by the otherwise defective Deed. When this happens, a Court will rely on an “order of dignity” within provided calls to determine the tract being conveyed:Īrtificial objects (marked trees, stone mounds, adjoinder calls, etc.). Many times, a property description will describe a tract with errors such as an incorrect distance, conflicting acreage recitals, or bearings that describe a tract which does not have a closed shape when plotted on a map.

It is important to note that any referenced instrument must be in existence at the time of the conveyance, or the description will fail.ĭefects or Conflicts Within a Description: The important thing to remember is that when a tract is described by referencing an unrecorded document, that extrinsic evidence is required to prove what the tract conveyed was at the time of the Deed. Great care must be taken in relying on any such Deeds, as unrecorded documents change, are lost, or may not accurately reflect a tract of land. Additionally, Deeds conveying property described as “my property” (such as “my farm in Reeves County”) have been found to be sufficient if extrinsic evidence shows that the Grantor only owned one tract of land meeting the description of property.Ī Deed that conveys a tract by referencing an unrecorded document, such as an appraisal district tract plat, must take into account what the unrecorded document depicted at the time of the conveyance. The need for a pages long property description can be avoided by “reference to a prior deed” however, if the property description being referenced is defective, then so is any subsequent deed that relies on it.Ī conveyance of “all right, title and interest” in a County, or the State of Texas, is a valid legal description as of the date of the Deed. In practice, a valid property description can come in many forms.

A Deed that fails to describe a definite tract of land is void. In some cases, this legal description can be stated very simply: “Lot 4, Block 8, Mineral Heights, City of Midland, Midland County, Texas.” However, large un-platted tracts of land usually require much more information to identify the specific tract being conveyed. A property description is valid if it furnishes within itself, or by referencing another existing writing, a way to identify the land being conveyed with reasonable certainty. The purpose of a legal description is to give enough information for a person familiar with the area to identify the specific tract of land. What is the difference between a lengthy metes and bounds property description, and a simple reference to a prior deed filed of record? Why does one property description take two pages, describing the length of each boundary, while other property descriptions are only one sentence long? Is one description more or less valid? The answer relates to back to the purpose of a legal description under Texas law.

Metes and bounds description example