This is the first in a series of articles but relax - I promise not to ask you to contribute money, or to volunteer for pro bono. As lofty as the title sounds, it's really designed to assist the dirt lawyers in that lowliest tasks, the preparation of deeds. You know, those forms anyone can buy in their local drug store, across the aisle from the cough medicine. How, you might ask, will it be possible to devote an entire series, or even a single article, to so simple a process?
Consider this. Every time you ask your client to sign a deed, or accept delivery of one, you participate in the exercise of one of our fundamental constitutional rights, transfer of land. This is not a right to be taken lightly. Many cultures still do not permit the private ownership of land. Rather, it is a privilege, created by statute. And, like so many other such creatures, it is a privilege surrounded by laws, necessary to the orderly conduct of society. Thus, we have many different rules to apply, and our clients expect us to guide them in their correct application.
Volumes have been written, and more certainly will be, about the effect of deeds and their preparation. In this series I will target particular issues, such as choice of deed type (full covenant, warranty, bargain and sale, quit claim, limited warranty, lien covenant, statutory form, non-statutory form, etc.), the meaning and effect of certain common clauses, capacity issues, and descriptions. Comments from our readers are welcome, and will be used to select future topics, as well as to correct the inevitable past errors.
In the space remaining today, let's look briefly at the peevish practice of using addresses as part of the legal description in a deed. O.K., addresses do serve a purpose on a deed. They're important for identification of persons and entities, as part of the grantor and grantee clauses (oh, that John Jones!). The County Clerk doesn't know where to mail the deed unless an address follows the "record and return to" instruction. And, the address of corporate officers is (at least for now) part of the standard corporate acknowledgment. But an address can be harmful if swallowed as part of a legal description. Addresses are a creature of postal convenience, meaning that they are subject to change. One upstate county recently adopted the "911" emergency system, and forced hundreds of owners to change their addresses. A legal description is supposed to afford certainty in the identification of real property, and a street address can create uncertainty, ambiguity and error. A description conveying 123 Smith Street neglects to include the vacant lots next door, i.e., 121 and 125 Smith Street, even though they were intended to be conveyed.
So spare your fellow practitioners some stress and strain; keep addresses out of deed descriptions.