Chapter 10 - Legal Descriptions

The method used to identify a parcel’s unique location without duplication or confusion with other parcels

Legal description

Individuals who identify the boundaries of a parcel using measurements and references

Surveyors

Measurements in a survey that refer to distance (inches, feet, yards, and miles)

Metes

Compass directions to property boundaries in a survey

Bounds

Fixed objects used to establish boundaries in a survey

Monuments (or benchmarks)

Point at the edge of the property where a survey begins

Point of beginning

When the survey returns to the point of beginning

Closing

Three methods used to legally describe property

• Surveyor’s method

• Government survey method

• Lot and block method

Another name for the lot and block method of legal description

Plat method (or recorded plat method)

Legal description used to identify small parcels of property in subdivided areas and cities

Plat method

The term that refers to a subdivision or city map described by a surveyor with metes and bounds

Platted subdivision

The platted subdivision is broken down into these elements in the plat method of land description

Streets, lots, and blocks

The items included in a plat method legal description

• Lot number

• Block number

• Subdivision name

• Plat book and page number

The number that is assigned to a parcel by a county property assessor to uniquely identify the property within the jurisdiction

Assessor’s parcel number (APN)

The most accurate method of legal description 

Surveyor’s method

Another name for the surveyor’s method of legal description

Metes and bounds method

The surveyor’s shorthand description for North 40 degrees

N 40°

Format of directions in a surveyor’s legal description

North or South followed by the number of degrees East or West up to 90 degrees (Example: N 37° E or S 45° W)

The opposite direction of North 15° West (N 15° W)

South 15° East (S 15° E)

The opposite direction of South 22° East (S 22° E)

North 22° West (N 22° W)

The form of legal description that divides the surface of the earth into a grid, with numbered squares that can be subdivided into smaller squares

Government survey method

Another name for the government survey method of land description

Rectangular method

North/south government survey method line in Florida that goes through Tallahassee

Tallahassee principal meridian

East/west government survey method line in Florida that goes through Tallahassee

Tallahassee baseline

Government survey marker at the intersection of the Tallahassee principal meridian and the Tallahassee baseline

Tallahassee government survey maker

North/south lines that run parallel to the Tallahassee principal meridian

Meridians (or range lines)

East/west lines that run parallel to the Tallahassee baseline

Baselines (or township lines)

The distance between range lines

6 miles

The distance between township lines

6 miles

Vertical area between meridians (or range lines)

Range

Horizontal area between baselines (or township lines)

Tier

Each square created by drawing range lines and township lines

Township

The method for locating a township

Identify the tier (T) and range (R) where the township is located

The notation used to identify a township that is used to identify the township that is 1 township south of Tallahassee and 1 range west

T1S, R1W

The notation used to identify a township that is 5 townships north of Tallahassee and 2 ranges east

T5N, R2E

The notation used to identify a township that is 2 townships north of Tallahassee and 5 ranges west

T2N, R5W

The notation used to identify a township that is 3 townships south of Tallahassee and 6 ranges east

T3S, R6E

The size of a township

Six miles square and contains 36 square miles

The method by which the curvature of the earth is accounted for in the drawing of range and tier lines

Guide meridians and correction lines are located every 24 miles

Intersection of guide meridians and correction lines that form a 24-mile-square area

Check

The number of sections that each township is divided into

Each township contains 36 sections (numbered 1,2, 3, ….36) in rows of 6

The dimensions of a township

6 miles by 6 miles

The number of square miles in a township 

36 square miles

The dimensions of a section

1 mile by 1 mile (1 mile square)

The number of acres in each section

640 acres

The section number that is immediately south of section 1 in a township

12

The section number that is immediately east of section 6 in a township

5

The section number that is immediately north of section 31 in a township 

30

The section number that is immediately west of section 36 in a township

35

The number of acres in the north west (NW) ¼ of a section 

640 acres ÷ 4 = 160 acres

The number of acres in the east (E) ½ of a section

640 acres ÷ 2 = 320 acres

The number of acres in the southeast (SE) ¼ of the northwest (NW) ¼ of a section

640 acres ÷ 4 ÷ 4 = 40 acres 

The number of acres in the E ½ of the NW ¼ of a section

640 acres ÷ 4 ÷ 2 = 80 acres

The number of acres in two contiguous tracts with the following legal description: W ½ of the NW ¼ of the SE ¼ and the NE ¼ of the NE ¼ of the SE ¼ of Section 8, T26S, R18E

Tract 1: 

640 acres ÷ 4 ÷ 4 ÷ 2 

= 20 acres  

Tract 2: 

640 acres ÷ 4 ÷ 4 ÷ 4 

= 10 acres

 Total = 30 acres

The number of square feet in an acre

1 acre = 43,560 square feet