Blog · September 25, 2026 · Deeds

How to Find Your Property’s Legal Description

A street address tells the mail carrier where you live. A legal description tells a court exactly what land you own. You need it for wills, trusts, easements, quitclaim deeds and many permit forms. Here is where to find yours and how to make sense of what it says.

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Where the legal description lives

1. Your recorded deed. The legal description is usually in the body of the deed or on an attached exhibit, often labeled Exhibit A. This is the version that matters most.
2. Your owner’s title insurance policy. The policy describes the insured land, usually matching the deed.
3. The mortgage or deed of trust. Lenders repeat the legal description so their lien attaches to the right land.
4. A survey. A boundary survey restates the description and may note differences found in the field.
5. The tax bill or assessor record. Useful, but often shortened. Treat it as a pointer, not the full description.

If you don’t have the deed, find the current owner and parcel number on the county parcel viewer, then look up the most recent deed in the county recorder or register of deeds index. Our guide to finding county property records walks through that search, and you can locate your county’s viewer on the national map or in our state directory.

Why the assessor’s version is shorter

Assessors keep an abbreviated description to identify the parcel on the tax roll, such as a lot number and subdivision name, or a partial section reference with an acreage. Fields are often truncated to fit a database. That short version works for billing, but it can leave out exceptions, easements and exact calls. Always copy the full description from the recorded deed when drafting a legal document.

The three main types

Lot and block

Common in cities and subdivisions. The description names a lot, a block and a recorded plat, for example “Lot 7, Block 3, of a named subdivision, as recorded in a plat book and page.” The plat holds the measurements, so the description is only as complete as the plat it points to. See what plat maps show.

Metes and bounds

The oldest method, used heavily in the original colonies and in Texas, Kentucky and Tennessee, among other places. It walks the boundary from a point of beginning using directions, called bearings, and distances, often tying to monuments such as iron pins, stones or trees. A typical call reads like “thence North 45 degrees East 210 feet to an iron pin.” Older descriptions may use chains, rods or poles and reference landmarks that are long gone.

Rectangular survey (section, township and range)

Across much of the Midwest and West, land was laid out under the Public Land Survey System. A description might read “the Northeast quarter of the Southwest quarter of Section 12, Township 4 North, Range 3 West,” followed by the principal meridian. Each quarter-quarter is nominally 40 acres, since a standard section is about one square mile, or 640 acres. Our section, township and range guide explains how to read these.

Descriptions that mix methods

Many descriptions combine types. A rural lot might start at a section corner and then run metes and bounds. A subdivision lot might add “less and except” language for a strip taken for a road widening. Watch for:

• Exceptions that carve out part of the land, such as a cemetery or a highway taking.
• Easements granted “together with” the land or reserved “subject to” it.
• Acreage statements followed by “more or less,” which signal that the number is approximate.

Reading an old description

Descriptions written generations ago can be hard going. Distances in chains and poles, calls to a “white oak” or “the corner of the Smith tract,” and bearings measured with a compass whose readings have since drifted all make older boundaries tricky. Here are a few tips. Read the description slowly with a pencil and sketch each call on paper to see whether the shape closes. Look for the point of beginning first, since every later call depends on it. Note any adjoining owners named, because their deeds may describe the same line from the other side. If the sketch does not close or the acreage looks far off, that is a sign to bring in a surveyor before you rely on the description for a sale or split.

Compare the description with the map

Once you have the legal description, open the county parcel viewer and check that the shape and acreage roughly match. A mismatch is not always a problem, since tax maps are approximations, but a big difference can reveal a split, a boundary adjustment or a typo worth resolving before you sign anything. If the land is in a subdivision, compare the lot number on the plat with the parcel card. For rural land, turn on the section lines layer if the viewer has one.

Using a legal description correctly

• Copy it word for word from the recorded deed. Do not retype from a tax bill.
• Keep punctuation and degree symbols exactly as written. A missing comma can change meaning.
• If you need a new description, for example to split off land, hire a licensed surveyor to write it.
• For wills, trusts and transfers, have an attorney or title professional review the document.

A good legal description, paired with a recorded plat or survey, is what protects your ownership. Our article on assessor maps versus surveys explains why the tax map is not the last word.

Open the Platbookmapper county map Browse the county GIS directory by state

Not a survey. County GIS and tax parcel maps are assessment and planning layers. They are not a substitute for a recorded plat, deed, or licensed survey — especially for fences, setbacks, or boundary disputes.

Related

• Finding county property records and plats
• Section, township and range search
• What plat maps show

• Tags:
• find it
• description types
• check the map
• using it

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