Redoing a legal description is not as easy as ‘retyping it in 10 minutes.’ I’ve spent hours redoing them, finding someone else in the office to proofread them with me (one reads, the other checks, and then you reverse it.
Some states would require the ‘new’ legal description to go through a title company to make sure it is correct. If this description was rejected because of the print size, I bet it has been photocopied a million times and somewhere along the line may have been a cut and paste job.
Just tell the attorney you need it done by May 31.
You asked what would be done if something changed before it was recorded. Some states don’t recognize anything that isn’t recorded, and it is a “race” to the recorder’s office. Other states will follow the ‘notice’ doctrine and anyone who had notice of the transfer (your siblings, daughter, husband) are held to that notice as if it were recorded.
This is in California, and the property transfer includes a reassessment exemption document for parent-child transfer. However the person in the recorder’s office didn’t know that when they told me of the 3 month backlog. Once the property is in my name I need to transfer it to our revocable living trust, but this will be handled by a different firm. It will be interesting to see how long the process takes the second time. I was told that I can’t transfer it directly to our trust.
Yes, my brother has not been proactive in communicating with the attorney. He makes sporadic inquiries but doesn’t follow up or suggest a timeline. If I don’t hear anything by the end of the week I will ask him to suggest the May 31 goal. He’s done an otherwise great job as executor and this is the last remaining task.
I also tried not to bug them. To help with this I would put on a calendar to ask about it in 3 month increments, because time seems to move so slowly when you are trying to get things done.
OK, I think they might be referring to a 3 month backlog in the Assessor’s office to re-assess the property. That gives you plenty of time to separately file the form.
in California, title companies usually record the deed transfers and are responsible for the legal description on the deed. Maybe you could ask who the title company is and start pushing them independently?
@momsquad - I didn’t mean to imply you should back off, just that there might be better response if you go through the client, who is your brother. So, harass your brother to harass the attorney. Lol.