In New Jersey, we can and do get into what is contained in the legal description that becomes part of our title insurance commitment.  We tend to remove anything that would imply the insurance of acreage or square footage.  We too dislike things like "more or less."  That's what a surveyor is supposed to determine after all.  We remove things like road widths and tax map references that can change over time and we don't like words like "Right of Way" when we don't actually have a right of way document to back it up.  In other words, we do not necessarily just copy what has been on previous deeds word for word.  That's how mistakes get perpetually made.  We even get paid extra to do it.  Here is the reference in our rate manual:

 

7.3 PREPARATION OF PROPERTY DESCRIPTION

When an insurer or agent is asked to prepare a legal description of real estate from a survey, the charge for such preparation shall be $50.00.

 

That being said, however, we do not draft deeds.  That is for the lawyers to determine.  We determine what we will insure and what will appear on our final policy.  They decide if they want to use our description or something else.  As long as it's pretty close, we usually let them record it.  But what is on our policy, is what we will insure.  That is within the scope of our professional license.to post a reply: login - or - register