Survey Question?

[IRISH HUNTER]

My wife's family is going to have their farm surveyed and I was wanting some tips or advice. Will surveyors testify for you in court? Are there any good surveyors around Chester County?

Is there anything you should not forget?

 

[tn droptine]

Curious to this as well, if you find anything out let me know Irish Hunter, and if I hear of any good ones to use here I'll pass it on

 

[Football Hunter]

Chaney Lake may be a good source of info

 

[treefarmer]

One tip that I have learned the hard way. Pay the surveyor to install extra steel posts along property lines at high points or road crossings, etc. I have hilly terrain and I can't see from one steel post to the next.

 

[BSK]

Although a licensed surveyor can explain the laws more in detail, one thing I have found from experience while mapping properties is, when it comes to property line disputes in TN (not all states have the same laws), a court will often use the oldest property line markings that can be found on the ground as the legal boundary, despite what a survey says is the boundary. Basically, if an old fenceline and/or marked trees have been used as the property boundary for years, THAT will be considered the legal boundary no matter what the survey says is the boundary.

When mapping properties with high-end GPS equipment (accurate to less than a foot distance), I will take the survey "calls" (distance and direction from corner-point to corner-point of the property) listed in the legal deed and log them into a software that outputs the exact latitude and longitude of each corner. I can then enter these positions into my GPS and the unit will walk me right to where they should be on the ground. However, you wouldn't believe how often these corner-points are mismarked on the ground, and worse yet how often the "straight shot" property line between corner-points has been mismarked in the past. I've seen these marked property lines that should be an absolute straight line across the ground from Point A to Point B wander off course by more than 100 yards. Yet, from what I gather, in a dispute, most courts will define the incorrectly marked boundary on the ground as the "legal" boundary instead of what the property deed says is the boundary.

For the life of me, I can't understand how these lines and property corners have been marked and remarked in the wrong locations over multiple surveys. But that situation in rural areas is VERY common.

 

[Boll Weevil]

Just a couple of years ago I had some survey work done. The fellow I used invested quite alot of time at the courthouse, tax assessors, and even knocked on a few doors in an attempt to gather/confirm information. BSK is right in saying sometimes a longstanding boundary or point is accepted (even if it's incorrect): a chiseled triangle in a boulder, hacks in a witness tree, or remnants of an ancient woven-wire fence.

 

[woodchuckc]

Like BSK and Boll Weevil said, when dealing with old deeds with descriptions like "start at the large red oak on the creek bank and proceed 100 poles SW to persimmon tree....etc" it becomes difficult to translate that into current and accurate lines. We are going to deal with this with my wife's grandmother's house on the corner of our property. We are planning on selling the house and a couple of acres since she passed away last summer, but the whole farm was bought in bits and pieces from the early 1900's to the 1960's. Oftentimes in these situations the surveyor will interview some of the "old timers" that have lived in the area their entire lives to get an idea of the historically used property lines since the old sycamore stump that was used as a marker in a deed 70 or more years ago is long gone.

 

[BSK]

...when dealing with old deeds with descriptions like "start at the large red oak on the creek bank and proceed 100 poles SW to persimmon tree....etc" it becomes difficult to translate that into current and accurate lines.

What really kills me is getting those deeds that are so old that instead of giving a precise transit description like, "140.2 feet on a line 14 degrees, and 12.6 seconds," it will read something like, "about 14 poles in a general northeasterly direction..." "About" 14 poles? In a "general northeasterly" direction? That's really helpful...

 

[brmaster]

Mine as per the last survey says something like,,
starting at the most northeast fence post and going north
so many feet to fence post then,,,,,,,etc
and that is what is listed on the deed as well shown on survey

I know as I stand at a marked fence post and look to the other post
the line is not straight,, the existing fence as it stands, goes in and out as much as 10 ft in one direction.
I plan on surveying this myself as well to align all four locations and straighten the fence out.
The deed as written states there are no mutual or shared fence on the property, so I guess the fence is mine, this I will confirm prior to moving so as not to get into any battles,
As the property next to me has cows on it now so I will make sure the cows dont get out.
Good luck to anyone doing this