§ 98-3. Establishing boundaries and interest, where conveyance and copy lost. - North Carolina Statutes

§98‑3.  Establishing boundaries and interest, where conveyance and copylost.

When any conveyance of realestate, or of any right or interest therein, is lost, the registry thereofbeing also destroyed, any person claiming under the same may cause the boundariesthereof to be established in the manner provided in the Chapter entitledBoundaries, or he may proceed in the following manner to establish both theboundaries and the nature of his estate:

He shall file his petitionbefore the clerk of the superior court,  setting forth the whole substance ofthe conveyance as truly and specifically as he can, the location and boundariesof his land, whose land it adjoins, the estate claimed therein, and a prayer tohave his own boundaries established and the nature of his estate declared.

All persons claiming anyestate in the premises, and those whose lands adjoin, shall be notified of theproceedings. Unless they or some of them, by answer on oath, deny the truth ofall or some of the  matters alleged, the clerk shall order a surveyor to runand designate the boundaries of the petitioner's land, and return his survey,with a plot thereof, to the court. This, when confirmed, shall, with thedeclaration of the court as to the nature of the estate of the petitioner, beregistered and have, as to the persons notified, the effect of a deed for thesame, executed by the person possessed of the same next before the petitioner.But in all cases, however, wherein the process of surveying is disputed, andthe surveyor is forbidden to proceed by any person interested, the sameproceedings shall be had as under the Chapter entitled Boundaries.

If any of the persons notifieddeny by answer the truth of the conveyance, the clerk shall transfer the issuesof fact to the superior court, to be tried as other issues of fact are requiredby law to be tried; and on the verdict and the pleadings the judge shalladjudge the rights of the parties, and declare the contents of the deed, if anydeed is found by the jury, and allow the registration of such judgment anddeclaration, which shall have the force and effect of a deed. (1865‑6,c. 41, s. 3; Code, s. 56; Rev., s. 328; C.S., s. 367; 1973, c. 108, s. 44.)