Both parents from New Mexico became ill, father passed away (2013) before qualifying for Medicaid home care services. Mom became eligible somewhat after dad died. Dad issued a letter of warranty deeds on the property to his sons and daughters seven years before he became ill. Sons and daughters had it recorded with county, but didn't survey the property. There is a question of, if it's not surveyed is the document legal. Are our parents wishes to give the property to us free and clear a reality and not a Medicaid issue later when mom dies. The document is notarized and recorded. We are in need of caregivers to help with mom who is totally disabled and needs 24/7 care. Medicaid will provide this but is it safe to use their services then regret it once mom dies.
1. I've never heard of a "letter of warranty deeds". If you mean your father wrote a letter indicating he planned to execute warranty deeds, that makes sense, but it would seem to be more an expression of intent rather than an actual conveyance.+
2. I'm also unfamiliar with the requirement of having property surveyed. There are primarily 2 kinds of surveys with which I'm familiar: (a) an ALTA (American Land Title Assn.) survey used for commercial properties and incorporating much more detail than would be shown for a residential survey, which would more likely be a (b) boundary survey.
ALTA surveys were always required for commercial transactions, and of course were much more expensive than boundary surveys done for residential real estate transactions, which provided nowhere near the level of detail of an ALTA survey.
Who raised the issue of whether or not the "letter of warranty deeds" is legal if the property isn't surveyed? Was it someone in the land recorder's office? An attorney?
The issue of its legality would I think also be tied to exactly what a "letter of warranty deed" is.
Who held title before your father died? Did your father and mother hold title jointly, with rights to survivor or as tenants in common? Were warranty deed(s) ever recorded from the fee holder to any of the children? Who holds title now?
If the terms aren't being used in a nontraditional way and have specific meaning an application in NM, I think you really need to see a real estate or transactional attorney for clarification.
I'd find either the bill assessor mailed or go on-line to assessors site to find it.
Whatever was recorded at the courthouse almost always carries over to the assessor records within a couple of months. So if Dad owned the property completely on his own & dad did a Warranty Deed which transferred the ownership from him to his kids 7+ years ago; & the courthouse records and assessor bill are in your & bros name, then it's your property and outside of a 5 year Medicaid look-back.
But if the property was owned by mom & dad, & mom retained her share of ownership in the property, then Moms applying for Medicaid means her share (but only her share) is subject to an attempt of estate recovery by MERP.
If dad did this as a future intention & did this in a "letter" but no actual warranty deed was actually drawn up, signed, notarized, filed & recorded to transfer ownership, then I'd bet it is of no legal standing. Whomever is the eventual executor can take the letter to use to make decisions if they want to.
About the survey, property lines / boundaries being wrong, of off, this is fairly common. Often over time there are easements or actual loss of property due to public works projects. Like Garden said, for old parcels they are often "off". Correcting or changing boundaries is also fairly common.
Where I am correcting this can be done by filing for a "vacation" on the area in question. The strip or area is vacated by a judge or court to be included or excluded from a parcel or property. Problems like this are pretty common in coastal areas (as old property lines were based on mean tide lines) or old parcels that were land grants (as old property lines were done as per French or Spanish law and shared rights for access to parcels were often conveyed). Boundary disputes are solvable with a bit of negotiation & shouldn't invalidate a properly transferred or sold parcel.