Blog · September 30, 2026
What Is an Adjoiner Call?
An adjoiner call describes a boundary by naming the neighbor’s land, such as thence along lands of Rivera. The neighbor’s line becomes the monument of the call. It is not a vague gesture at whoever lives there now.
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Bounding on someone’s land
Older deeds and many newer ones run a course by land of Smith, or along the south line of the Jones tract, or bounded on the east by the highway and on the west by Brown. The named land is an adjoiner. The call incorporates that boundary as it existed when the deed was made, which means you may have to read Smith’s deed to know where Smith’s line was. The person who lives in the house today may not be Smith and may not own the same shape Smith owned. The name in the deed is a title clue from that date, not a current mailing label. County GIS owner names are a later assessment roll. They can help you find who to ask about a survey. They do not replace the adjoiner named in the caption.
Why adjoiners rank where they do
In the priority of calls, a call to an adjoiner is generally stronger than a bare distance and weaker than a definite monument you can still identify, though the facts matter. If the deed says 200 feet to the line of Smith, and Smith’s line is identifiable at 208 feet, the line of Smith is what the grantor pointed at. If Smith’s deed is itself a mess, naming Smith did not create certainty. You then read both chains. A plat can act as an adjoiner too, when a deed runs along the west line of a named subdivision. That call pulls in the subdivision plat. It does not pull in whatever the parcel viewer draws as the subdivision today.
How to trace the name
Write the adjoiner’s name and the date of your deed. Search the grantor-grantee index around that date for the tract that would have bordered yours. A later deed out of Smith may recite the parent. This is record work, not fieldwork with a measuring wheel. Do not enter the neighbor’s property to decide where Smith would have stood. If both current owners want the line settled, they can commission a survey and, if they agree, record a boundary agreement. A website cannot supply that agreement. Platbookmapper links to the county map so you can see the tax parcels that now touch. Touching parcels are a hint about current adjoiners. The hint is not the 1910 call.
What to do next
- Copy the adjoiner’s name and the side of your tract it bounds.
- Note the date so you look for that owner, not today’s occupant.
- Read the neighbor’s deed if the call depends on it.
- Do not swap in the current GIS owner name as if the deed had said it.
The mix-up to avoid
Following today’s fence because it is where the current neighbor mows. The call is to the line of the named adjoiner at the time of the deed, which may or may not be that mowing edge.
Questions people ask
What if the deed says lands of others with no name?
That call is weak. It tells you there was a neighbor and little else. Lean on the monuments and courses the same deed gives you, and treat the unnamed adjoiner as context rather than as a located line.
Does an adjoiner call grant me rights in the neighbor’s land?
No. It uses their boundary as a location. It does not convey their parcel, their easement, or a right to cross. Stay on your side while you read.
Find the county map
Open Platbookmapper and pick the county that taxes the land. Use that viewer to get the parcel id, then match it to the recorded plat if you need the easements and lot numbers.
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.