LOCAL GOVERNMENT CODE

CHAPTER 72. COUNTY BOUNDARIES


	§ 72.001.  BOUNDARY SURVEY;  APPOINTMENT OF 
SURVEYOR.  (a)  If a county court finds, or is notified by the 
commissioner of the General Land Office, that the boundary or part 
of a boundary of the county is not sufficiently definite, the county 
court shall appoint an experienced and competent registered 
professional land surveyor to conduct a survey of the boundary in 
question.  The surveyor shall make and establish the boundary lines 
and corners in the manner prescribed by this chapter.
	(b)  In the order appointing the surveyor, the county court 
shall designate the boundary lines to be run and the boundary 
corners to be established and marked and shall conform to the law 
that defined the boundaries of the county.

Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.  Amended 
by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 1091, § 26, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.


	§ 72.002.  NOTICE TO ADJACENT COUNTY;  APPOINTMENT OF 
ADDITIONAL SURVEYOR.  (a)  A county court that orders a boundary 
survey shall give notice of the survey to the county court of any 
other county that has an interest in the boundary by sending a copy 
of the order to the county court of that county.  The notice must be 
given before the 10th day before the date on which the notified 
county court meets.
	(b)  The order must state the time and place for the 
beginning of the survey.  The day scheduled for the beginning of the 
survey must be on or before the 20th day after the day on which the 
notified county court meets.
	(c)  The notified county court shall appoint an experienced 
and competent registered professional land surveyor to assist in 
the survey of the boundary lines in question.

Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.  Amended 
by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 1091, § 27, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.


	§ 72.003.  BOUNDARY MARKERS.  (a)  The initial corners 
of the survey shall be designated by boundary markers.
	(b)  Only a post, a stone monument, or a mound may be used as 
a boundary marker.
	(c)  A post used as a boundary marker must be of hewn cedar, 
cypress, or bois d'arc.  The post must be at least eight inches in 
diameter and at least five feet in length and must be set in the 
ground to a depth of at least three feet.
	(d)  A mound used as a boundary marker must be composed of 
stone if the use of stone is practicable.  If the use of stone is not 
practicable, a mound may be composed of earth.  A mound must be at 
least two feet in height.

Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.                    


	§ 72.004.  DUTIES OF SURVEYOR;  FIELD NOTES.  (a)  A 
surveyor appointed under this chapter shall describe the initial 
corners of the boundary lines on the boundary markers established 
at the corners.  The surveyor shall supervise the establishment of 
additional boundary markers at one-mile intervals along the 
boundary line.
	(b)  In the field notes of the survey, the surveyor shall 
accurately describe all prominent natural objects that are crossed 
by or are adjacent to the boundary lines under survey, as well as 
the corners and lines of surveys on or near the boundaries.
	(c)  After each boundary line in question is surveyed and 
marked, the surveyor promptly shall return the field notes and map 
of the survey to the county court that appointed the surveyor.
	(d)  The county clerk shall record the field notes and map 
and shall deliver a certified copy of the notes and map to the 
General Land Office.

Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.                    


	§ 72.005.  OATH AND BOND OF SURVEYOR.  (a)  Before 
performing duties under this chapter, a surveyor must take the oath 
of office prescribed by the constitution for appointed officers and 
must execute a bond conditioned that the surveyor will faithfully 
perform those duties.
	(b)  The bond must be in the amount of $1,000, must be payable 
to the county judge or the judge's successors in office, and must 
have two or more sureties who are approved by the county judge.

Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.                    


	§ 72.006.  PAYMENT OF EXPENSES.  (a)  The counties that 
have an interest in the boundary lines in question shall divide the 
expenses incurred in making the survey and establishing the 
boundary markers in proportion to each county's frontage on the 
line.
	(b)  A surveyor appointed under this chapter is entitled to 
receive the actual expenses incurred in making the survey and any 
fees for surveying services agreed on by the surveyor and the 
counties.

Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.  Amended 
by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 991, § 3, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.


	§ 72.007.  EFFECT OF FAILURE OF APPOINTED SURVEYOR TO 
APPEAR.  If either of the surveyors appointed under Sections 72.001 
and 72.002 is absent at the time and place scheduled for the 
beginning of the survey, the surveyor who is present shall conduct 
the survey alone and shall deliver the survey report to the county 
court that appointed that surveyor.  On approval by that court, the 
report shall be recorded as evidence of the boundary line in 
question and shall be treated as the true boundary between the 
counties.

Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.                    


	§ 72.008.  EFFECT OF FAILURE TO AGREE ON 
BOUNDARY.  (a)  If the surveyors appointed under Sections 72.001 
and 72.002 fail to agree on the boundary line in question between 
their respective counties, they shall report to the commissioner of 
the General Land Office the facts of the disagreement, with a full 
statement of the questions at issue.
	(b)  The commissioner shall examine the disputed matter at 
once.  From the information maintained in the General Land Office, 
the commissioner shall designate to the surveyors the line to be 
run, stating at what specific point the surveyors shall begin and to 
what specific point they shall run the line.  In the instructions to 
the surveyors, the commissioner shall adhere as closely as possible 
to the line designated in the law that created the county line.  The 
instructions from the commissioner constitute authority for the 
surveyors to run that line.  After the survey based on the 
commissioner's instructions, that line is the true boundary between 
the counties.

Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.                    


	§ 72.009.  SUIT TO ESTABLISH BOUNDARIES.  (a)  A county 
may bring suit against an adjacent county to establish the common 
boundary line.  The suit must be brought in the district court of a 
county in an adjoining judicial district whose boundaries are not 
affected by the suit and whose county seat is closest to the county 
seat of the county that brings the suit.  The court shall try the 
suit in the same manner in which it tries other suits.
	(b)  The district court has jurisdiction to determine where 
the boundary line is located and may order the line to be re-marked 
and resurveyed.  The line established by the district court shall be 
treated as the true boundary between the counties unless the court 
determines that the line in question was established under prior 
law.  If the district court determines that the boundary line has 
been established under prior law, the court shall declare that line 
to be the true boundary between the counties and shall have that 
line resurveyed and established as the boundary.
	(c)  The commissioner of the General Land Office may not mark 
a contested county line on the maps maintained by the land office 
until a certified copy of the final judgment is filed in the land 
office with a certified copy of the field notes of the boundary line 
established by the judgment.
	(d)  The remedy provided by this section is in addition to 
any other remedy prescribed by this chapter.

Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.