Opinion ID: 2322016
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Fee Ownership of the Disputed Portion of the Mill Lot

Text: [¶ 11] Batchelder asserts that Geraldine and Dennis Batchelder did not intend to convey the northern half of the mill lot to the Jacksons in 1986, and therefore the Jacksons' successors-in-title, including the Mattesons, did not obtain title to it. Batchelder concedes that the property description in the 1986 deed includes the northern half of the mill lot. However, he argues that because the property description is followed by the reference to the 1936 deed, and because the 1936 deed did not include the mill lot, the reference to the 1936 deed reflected the parties' intent to diminish the size of the parcel conveyed in the 1986 deed by eliminating the northern half of the mill lot. [¶ 12] The standard of review is de novo as to the interpretation of a deed and clear error as to questions of fact. See Snyder v. Haagen, 679 A.2d 510, 513 (Me. 1996). As the Superior Court determined, there are two salient facts regarding the intent of Geraldine and Dennis Batchelder to convey the northern half of the mill lot. First, they owned both the thirty-five-acre parcel and the mill lot in 1986 when they conveyed to the Jacksons, and therefore they were able to include the northern half of the mill lot when they conveyed the thirty-five-acre parcel. Second, the property description in the 1986 deed from Geraldine and Dennis Batchelder to the Jacksons bisects what was historically the mill lot and unambiguously includes the northern half of the mill lot. We have held that a reference in a deed to another deed will not limit the amount of land otherwise unambiguously conveyed by the property description. Sabasteanski v. Pagurko, 232 A.2d 524, 526 (Me. 1967). The court did not err in finding that Geraldine and Dennis Batchelder intended to convey the northern half of the mill lot when they conveyed the thirty-five-acre parcel to the Jacksons in 1986 and that consequently their successors-in-title obtained the property included in the deed's property description.