Question 1

How do I read a legal description like NW¼ SE¼ S12 T4N R2W?

Accepted Answer

Read it backwards, from big to small. T4N R2W locates a 36-square-mile township on a grid measured from a principal meridian; S12 is one 640-acre section inside it; SE¼ is the section's 160-acre southeast quarter; NW¼ of that quarter is a 40-acre piece. Each quarter divides the acreage by four.

Question 2

What is a turnrow?

Accepted Answer

A turnrow is the strip of ground at the edge of a field where equipment turns around at the end of each pass — also called a headland or turn-strip. It is unplanted or sacrificial ground, typically 15 to 40 feet wide depending on implement size. It is also where neighbors stop, talk, and make deals — which is why we took the name.

Question 3

What is the difference between metes and bounds and PLSS descriptions?

Accepted Answer

Metes and bounds describes a parcel by walking its perimeter — bearings and distances from a point of beginning ("N 42°15' E, 660 feet to an iron pin") — while PLSS describes it by grid position (section, township, range). The original 13 states, Texas, and older parcels everywhere use metes and bounds; most of the rest of the country uses PLSS aliquot parts.

Question 4

What is an easement, and how does it affect my land?

Accepted Answer

An easement is a legal right for someone else to use part of your land for a specific purpose — a neighbor's access road, a utility line, an irrigation ditch, a pipeline. It runs with the land through every sale. Easements rarely kill a deal, but a pipeline or transmission corridor can restrict building sites and pivots, and shave value.

Question 5

What is a landlocked parcel, and how do I fix access?

Accepted Answer

A landlocked parcel has no legal access to a public road — you can only reach it by crossing someone else's land without a recorded right. Landlocked ground routinely trades at a 30–50% discount, and most lenders, Turnrow included, require deeded or insurable legal access before closing.

Question 6

Do mineral rights matter on farmland, and what is a severed estate?

Accepted Answer

Yes — and often the minerals under farmland belong to someone else. A severed estate means a prior owner sold or reserved the mineral rights separately from the surface, which is extremely common in Texas, Oklahoma, and the oil-and-gas West. The mineral owner generally holds the dominant estate: they can use reasonable surface access to drill.

Question 7

What is title insurance on land, and what does it not cover?

Accepted Answer

Title insurance is a one-time-premium policy that defends and compensates you if a covered defect in ownership surfaces — a forged deed, a missed lien, an heir with a claim. On land, the standard policy notably does NOT cover: anything a survey would reveal, unrecorded easements, water rights, mineral rights, or Schedule B exceptions.

Question 8

What is the difference between a survey and a legal description, and when do I need a new survey?

Accepted Answer

The legal description is words on the deed defining what you own; a survey is a licensed surveyor physically locating those words on the ground and mapping what is actually there. Get a new survey when boundaries are disputed, when the description is old metes and bounds, when you are splitting land, or when improvements sit near a line. Expect $2,000–$15,000 on ag parcels.

Question 9

What are fence-line disputes, and how does adverse possession work?

Accepted Answer

A fence-line dispute arises when the fence and the deeded boundary disagree — common on old farmland, where fences were built for cattle, not surveyors. Adverse possession lets someone who occupies land openly, exclusively, and hostilely for a statutory period — 5 to 21 years depending on state, 10 being typical — take legal title to it.

Question 10

What kinds of liens follow farmland, and which ones survive a sale?

Accepted Answer

Property tax liens, irrigation and drainage district assessments, IRS liens, judgment liens, mortgages, and mechanics liens can all attach to farmland. Priority is mostly first-recorded-first-paid, with a big exception: property tax and many district assessment liens are super-priority — they jump ahead of everything, including a first mortgage.

Question 11

What is a plat map, and where do I find mine?

Accepted Answer

A plat map is the recorded drawing of how land is divided — parcels, dimensions, roads, easements, and lot numbers — maintained by the county recorder or assessor. For PLSS ground, the original government township plats live at the BLM's General Land Office records site, free online. Most counties now publish parcel maps through a GIS portal.

Question 12

What shows up in a title commitment, and what are Schedule B exceptions?

Accepted Answer

A title commitment is the title company's offer to insure, issued days after escrow opens. Schedule A states who owns the land, the legal description, and the policy amount; Schedule B-I lists requirements to close (payoffs, releases, deeds); Schedule B-II lists exceptions — everything the policy will NOT cover. B-II is where you should spend your reading time.

Question 13

Can I buy land with a cloud on title?

Accepted Answer

You can, but usually you should not — at least not at full price or with borrowed money. A cloud is any unresolved claim or defect that makes ownership uncertain: a missing heir's interest, an unreleased old mortgage, a botched legal description, a disputed lien. Title companies will except clouds from coverage, and most lenders will not close over them.

Question 14

What is a quiet title action?

Accepted Answer

A quiet title action is a lawsuit asking a court to declare who owns a property and wipe out competing claims — the legal machine that turns clouded title into insurable title. Uncontested actions typically take 3 to 9 months and cost $2,500 to $10,000; contested ones can run years. The judgment binds every named (and properly noticed) claimant.

Title, Survey & Legal Descriptions