Hi Gary, thank you for responding to my post and the Grantor is one of the heirs to the property. I believe that he knows more than what he has told us during the separation of the land. The Grantor separated and divided 327 acres of land to the heirs of three deceased brothers’ property. My great grandfather was one of the three deceased brothers. My grandfather the son of my great grandfather settled on the land in the early 1800s, where other heirs since then have moved on other portions of the land. In 2011 the land was separated and deeded to each of the three brothers’ deceased children; heirs.
My grandfather and grandmother raise six children on this land and this part of the land has been in my family for generations. The Grantor is one of the heirs to the property and he did not equally divide the land properly. He awarded himself as C/O of his family portion of the land (175 acres). My own family received 80 acres of wildness and the other heirs received the rest of land. All the land totals to 327 acres.
My grandfather raised my mother and her sisters and brothers on a small stretch of land about 15 acres and the way the Grantor has the land separated this small stretch of land has been taken away, but my family members still lives on the land including my 90 year old uncle. My family may be forced to move to an area where new septic lines and septic tanks need to be built, and water wells is going to be needed; drilling will be involved. We have started our investigation trying to track down the original deed to the property but without any luck, because I remember prior to the land being separated the Grantor did say that there was no will, because it burned up when the courthouse caught on fire; and that he had the only deed to the land.
So, basically we really do not have anything to go on but just the Grantor word and the deed stating that the 80 acres belongs to my side of the family and he also verbally said during a family meeting that we have to pay taxes on the land; which we do faithfully now that we have our own deed, but before the separation of the land my mother and her brothers and sisters paid taxes on the same 15 acres for many years even before I was born; my family paid property taxes. However, after doing my own investigation and reading and re-reading the deed and going online to get a better understanding of what restrictions and reservation, easement, and zoning means and the information what I see now is that basically, the deed looks like it has a clause where the Grantor or someone else can come and tell us anything and do anything without an explanation of why this and that is being done without our permission to do so.
I am concern about the mineral and mining rights because the 80 acres which was passed on to my side of the family is practically a wilderness. We do not know whether these restrictions apply to digging restrictions of any type on our land because in order to relocate to the 80 acres; my family have to make these changes to the land. The 15 acres where my grandfather settled on dates back to may be the early 1800's; and this portion of my grandfathers’ part of the land has always been used to build houses, and drilled new water wells, and for my family to start-over we have to build new septic systems and drill water line systems before moving to the 80 acres.
The land is peaceful it has an abundance of wildlife and has rich soil to grow trees and plant crops. I want my family to be able to raise their family on our 80 acres of land without worrying that one day the 80 acres that was awarded to us will be taken away; the same way the Grantor awarded the 15 acres to someone else while my family still lives on the land; and my family still lives on the land. My family cannot afford to spend thousands of dollars to make 80 acres livable right away.
There have been rumors circulating that my family will need to vacate and soon. I do not know the property laws in the state of Alabama for heirs’ living on their own land as (squatter’s). Sorry for the long response but I am concerned about the possibility that my family may become homeless, because they cannot afford to move and that we may not have any rights to bring civilization to the 80 acres we now owns, because we may not own the bottom portion of the land. I would ask the Grantor what our rights are for digging wells on our land, but he may give us the run around again. My family may not have the rights to drill for wealth, but fresh water and putting in sewer lines and septic tanks is a necessity. Do we have the rights to drill on our land to put in fresh water systems and septic and sewer line systems?
Gary L. Hutchinson said:
Leonia,
The Administrator (Grantor) gave your family everything he or she was allowed to transfer but notified your family in the deed that taxes, zoning laws, and other reservations may exist that affect the property. the Grantor did not withhold any mineral rights but cautioned the Grantee that any mineral rights owned by others did not transfer. In other words, the Grantor did not know specifically of any mineral rights either transferred or owned by others. That research will be up to your family to compete.
Gary L Hutchinson
Minerals Management