Agenda
Webinar instructions will be emailed 24-48 business hours before the date of the webinar.
Please log into the webinar 10-15 minutes before start time.
Wednesday, October 7, 2026 – Thursday, October 8, 2026
11:00 am – 2:15 pm CT (both days)
Agenda:
Presented by Wendy Lathrop, PLS, CFM, CFS
Day 1: Wednesday, October 7, 2026
11:00 am – 2:15 pm CT (includes 15-minute break)
Locating Land Boundaries on Paper (and on the Ground)
- What a deed tells us about real property interests and their locations — or doesn’t
- Common kinds of land descriptions
- Metes and bounds
- Reference to a tax parcel
- 3-D descriptions (condominiums, split estates)
- Blanket easements
- Reference to a subdivision
- “Strip” descriptions
- Reading a description to find evidence of location
- The work involved in writing a description
- Tying the paper deed to the ground: what is evidence of a boundary?
- Why paper and ground may not match
- When the paper and the ground don’t match: the hierarchy of evidence in descriptions
- Summary: elements of a good description
Physical Evidence and Boundaries
- The difference between a corner and a monument
- Retracement surveys versus new or independent surveys
- Discrepancies between the written record and what is on the ground
- Types of discrepancies
- Causes of discrepancies
- The hierarchy of evidence revisited
Day 2: Thursday, October 8, 2026
11:00 am –2:15 pm CT (includes 15-minute break)
Easements: Understanding Rights in Lands of Others
- Distinctions between ownership and possession
- Easements distinguished from other rights
- Types of easements and distinctions between them: appurtenant, in gross, affirmative, negative and others
- Methods of easement creation
- Clues in documents to determine if interests are fee or easement
- The effect of the Statute of Frauds on real property rights
- Methods of easement termination
- What happens after termination?
Disputes: Boundaries, Shared Spaces, and Split Estates
- Distinctions between trespass, adverse possession, and prescriptive rights
- Maintaining adverse claims
- Statute of limitations
- Elements of a claim
- “Lost grant” claims
- Quiet title actions
- Acquiescence, laches, estoppel, and equity
- Less litigious approaches to settling land interest disputes
- Practical location and boundary line agreements
- Boundary line commissions
Webinar Instructions
All attendees must log-on through their own email – attendees may not watch together if they wish to earn continuing education credit. HalfMoon Education Inc. must be able to prove attendance if either the attendee or HalfMoon Education Inc. is audited.
Certificates of completion can be downloaded in PDF form upon passing a short quiz. A link to the quiz will be sent to each qualifying attendee immediately after the webinar. The certificate can be downloaded from the Results page of the quiz upon scoring 80% or higher.
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Windows 10 or higher, macOS 11 or higher, Linux, Google Chrome OS
Web Browser:
Google Chrome (most recent 3 versions)
Microsoft Edge (most recent 3 versions)
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Credits
Engineers
6.0 PDHs
Land Surveyors
6.0 PDHs
PIE - Practicing Institute of Engineering
6.0 PDHs
This webinar is open to the public and is designed to qualify for 6.0 PDHs for professional engineers and land surveyors in most states. Please refer to specific state rules to verify eligibility.
HalfMoon Education is an approved continuing education sponsor for engineers in Florida (Provider License No: CEA362), Indiana (License No. CE21700059), Maryland, and New Jersey (Approval No. 24GP00049300). HalfMoon Education is an approved continuing education sponsor for land surveyors licensed in Indiana (License No. CE10600325) and Maryland. HalfMoon Education is deemed an approved continuing education sponsor for New York engineers and land surveyors via course approval by the Practicing Institute of Engineering (PIE).
This webinar has been evaluated for compliance with NYS Mandatory Continuing Education requirements for professional engineers and land surveyors by the Practicing Institute of Engineering and has been approved for 6.0 PDHs.
This webinar has been registered with the Florida Board of Professional Surveyors and Mappers for 6.0 continuing education credits.
The Missouri Board of APEPLSPLA has approved this course for 6.0 PDUs.
This course has been submitted to the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance for accreditation, which is currently pending. Visit halfmoonseminars.org for updates on pending credits.
Attendance will be monitored, and attendance certificates will be available after the webinar for those who attend the entire course and score a minimum 80% on the quiz that follows the course (multiple attempts allowed).
While this course is designed to qualify for credit in all states, licensing boards have final authority with respect to acceptance of credits. We recommend reviewing the rules of your licensing board(s) before undertaking any continuing education activities.
On-Demand Credits
The credits listed above apply only to the live webinar. This course in an on-demand format may not qualify for the same credit in some states. Please refer to specific board rules to determine if an asynchronous, on-demand course is appropriate. The following credits will be included:
6.0 PDHs (PIE)
Speakers
Wendy Lathrop, PLS, CFM, CFS
President and Owner of Cadastral Consulting, LLCMs. Lathrop is licensed as a professional land surveyor in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, and as a professional planner in New Jersey. She holds a master’s degree in Environmental Policy and has been involved in surveying since 1974 in projects ranging from construction to boundary to environmental land use disputes. Ms. Lathrop is also a certified floodplain manager through the Association of State Flood Plain Managers (ASFPM) and a certified floodplain surveyor through the New Jersey Society of Professional Land Surveyors. A former adjunct instructor at Mercer County College in New Jersey, she has also taught as part of the team for the licensing exam review course at Drexel University in Pennsylvania. Ms. Lathrop has been teaching seminars for surveyors since 1986 and has been writing articles for surveyors since 1983. She is a contributing editor for The American Surveyor magazine, and she has four articles included in the American Bar Association’s text, Land Surveys: A Guide for Lawyers and Other Professionals. She and Stephen V. Estopinal, PLS, PE co–authored a book entitled Professional Surveyors and Real Property Descriptions: Composition, Construction, and Comprehension, published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. in 2011. She is also on the faculty of GeoLearn, a web-based educational provider. Ms. Lathrop is a past president of the New Jersey Society of Professional Land Surveyors and of the National Society of Professional Surveyors, and she has served on the Board of Directors for the American Association for Geodetic Surveying.
6 Knowledge Points
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