How to Find the “Legal Description” of Your Home

In many divorces, the parties agree that one of them will keep the marital residence in the final division. Your attorney will not only have to draft an order that states which party keeps the house, but will also need to draft documents called deeds. These are legal instruments that transfer ownership from one party to another, and protect the party transferring the home in the event the receiving party defaults on the mortgage. Your attorney will need the full legal description of your home to draft these documents.

The legal description is more than just the physical address; it’s what describes the exact location of the property in the county records (most descriptions start with something like this: LOT, BLOCK 2, A SUBDIVISION OF…). If you do not provide this information to your attorney, he or she will have to look it up, and charge you for the time. Since this is something simple you can do on your own, there’s no point in paying your attorney to do it for you. Here’s how to find the legal description of your property in both Williamson and Travis counties:

Williamson County

• Go to www.wcad.org
• Click the Begin Search link
• Click Owner Search on the left-hand side of the page and enter the owner’s name
• Click on the link under Property ID that corresponds with the owner’s name
• Under the Parcel Information heading is the Legal Description of the property which will include the neighborhood, section #, block #, and lot # (for example, BRUSHY CREEK NORTH SEC 2, BLOCK 13, LOT 6)

Travis County

• Go to www.traviscad.org
• Click the Property Search link
• Under the Real Property heading, select Owner’s Name
• Enter the owner’s last name (followed by a space and the first name or initial if desired)
• Click on the link under Property ID that corresponds with the owner’s name
• The legal description is in the top left box next to Legal (for example, LOT 10, BLK G, SIERRA VISTA II)

Labels: Attorney, Divorce, Family, Lawyer, Legal Description, Property Division, Real Estate, Williamson County Attorney, Williamson county divorce