Opinion ID: 2623510
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Closing the Property Description

Text: ¶ 54 Having determined the proper placement of the eastern boundary, we are still left with the question of how to reform the deed to close the property description. Where the parties intended to convey property along specific boundaries but the deed description fails to close, a court in equity may reform the deed to cause the description to close. Naisbitt v. Hodges, 6 Utah 2d 116, 307 P.2d 620, 624 (1957) (reforming a deed that failed to close); see also Ault v. Holden, 2002 UT 33, ¶¶ 26-30, 44 P.3d 781 (closing a faulty deed description in a construction proceeding). Reformation is appropriate because the parties intended the boundaries of the conveyed property to close. ¶ 55 The 1967 deed describes the southern boundary as follows: [T]hence West 927.7 feet along said South line of Section 23, to the N-S centerline of said Section 23. As is, the southern boundary description extends over 100 feet beyond the N-S centerline, onto property that Veibell did not own at the time of the transfer and could not have intended to include in the transfer. Because Veibell did not own and thus could not convey property beyond the N-S centerline and because monuments take precedence over distance, the call to the N-S centerline is more reliable than the 927.7 foot call of the southern boundary. See Park v. Wilkinson, 21 Utah 279, 60 P. 945, 946 (1900) (In a conveyance by natural monuments, distances and quantity, being the most uncertain, must yield to the former.); Thomas & Backman, supra, ¶ 44, § 13.05(b)(7)(i)(D)(8) (The special locative calls are more precise and particular and thus prevail over the descriptive calls in case of conflict.). We therefore hold that the deed description of the southern boundary be reformed to read thence West 816.75 feet along said South line of Section 23, to the N-S centerline of said Section 23 so that the property description closes. The 1967 deed thus conveyed 64.5 acres instead of 75.8 acres as the deed purports.