Deed Whereabouts Unknown

Ownership and Title
21

Linton -

As a Court Reporter, you have to keep your mindset on extremely accurately writing down in Shorthand or Keying down what people say - sometimes under very stressful circumstantial situations.

That's an incredibly impressive Skill Set, by anybody's standards - I admire and commend you for your ability.

You've reminded me of a scenario I witnessed a long time ago, however, that I found both humorous and somewhat eye opening:

One of my Sisters was working for an Attorney / Wannabee Oil and Gas Operator as a Secretary (Pardon me, but Society at the time had not yet discovered the PC concept of requiring men referring to women working in an office as Assistants).

I was at their office one afternoon, when she was asked on short notice to type up an agreement of some sort whereby a number of potential Investors, who were all anxiously standing around in the reception area, would commit to investing in an Oil and Gas Lease Development Deal.

My Sister very efficiently whipped out the document in record time, but had neglected to notice that she had left the CAPSLOCK on, sO tHe CoMpLeTeD dOcUmEnT loOkEd LiKe ThIs.

The Lawyer / Pseudo Oil and Gas Operator Wannabee was a little taken aback by the result, but I watched as he used the document anyway.

I thought the entire scenario was hilarious, but kept my peace.

I cautiously asked my Sister afterwards if she hadn't noticed her mistake and she replied "Oh, I don't read the things, I just type them..."

Your Father actually read the documents and a great many more types of documents and learned to understand what they do, just the same as I have enjoyed doing for more than 37 years now.

I applaud you for your newly discovered Addiction. There's an amazing world of knowledge out there about how things work and how things actually get done.

A whole lot got done before you and I got here, and the efforts to discovering it all - family by family, tract of land by tract of land - is almost hypnotic in it's effect.

I have been in love with what it all involves for years and can't imagine ever doing anything else for a living.

If you have any questions about any of all of this, I, as well as many other people on The Forum, will be happy to help.

And always remember that everyone of us is learning: There are no Stupid Questions.

I still ask questions.

If you want to ask me anything a little more privately than here, on Leigh's Message String, which so many of us appear to have "Highjacked", then feel free to accept my Invitation to become A Friend on The Forum, an Invitation of which I will send you in a few minutes, and we can discuss things more privately.

Charles

Leigh, again, I appreciate your patience with us all...

22

I hit a quote just to make sure that this does not get deleted by the author.

Dave Quincy said:

I understand why you think she was confused. It went to the interpretation of her question. It sounds like she said she wanted the deed proving up the rights that she inherited, not necessarily a deed into her personally. You based your reply on the later. Why are you encouraging the condescending attitude of Cotten? He has already been warned once, and to his credit issued a public apology.

23



Dave Quincy said:

Thanks for your reply, but if you are replying to me, that's not what I said. I was replying to the comments that there will always be a formal runsheet that can be furnished to someone.

What comments?

24

Very sadly, this is just what Mr. Dubose is trying to stop. A devolving into a name calling contest. I never called anybody any name whatsoever. Therefore, there was no warning to me. As to formal complaints, one has already been lodged. At this point, I walk away towards the high road and leave the others where they are.

25

Dear Ms. Anderssen,

Most likely, there is a deed describing the exact acreage for the minerals you inherited, and you would find it in the County Clerk's Office by searching for the name of the person from whom you inherited the property as the Grantee (or buyer) of the property, going backwards in time starting with his date of death. However, there are a couple of scenarios that I can think of where there might not be a deed at all describing exactly what you own at the present time.

First, if the property you inherited came out of a larger piece of property and the person from whom you inherited sold of one or more pieces of the larger piece before passing away with the remnant, especially if the person from whom you inherited died without a Will at all, OR owned the larger piece intact at the time of death but then subdivided it to you and at least one other person in a Will, there might not be a deed in existence for exactly what you own right now.

Second, even if the person from whom you inherited did have a Will, if the Will was filed as a Muniment of Title, meaning just to convey title to the persons listed in the Will, then there will not be an Executor’s Deed into you, the conveyance would have been made through the Will and the Court proceeding itself. If the Will was filed for what I call "regular Probate," meaning that an Inventory and Appraisement was conducted and an Executor managed income and expenses for the Estate, then there probably was an Executor's Deed conveying to you the property that you inherited filed in the County Clerk’s Office, but not necessarily. It depends upon what transpired in the Court proceedings. If there was an Executor’s Deed into you, then obviously you got bad advice about “the deed will precede the inheritance” because the Executor’s Deed cannot be executed until after the death of the person from whom you inherited and the initiation of the Probate proceedings into his Estate.

Third, even if you inherited a 100% ownership in a tract of land from a person who had acquired that exact same tract of land from somebody else, not a larger piece of land that he then carved up, the person from whom you inherited might have acquired that property for himself through one of the first two scenarios above, in which case there might not be a deed INTO the person from whom you inherited.

Fourth, the person from whom you inherited might have acquired the land, or a larger piece of land from which your property was carved, through a court case that is not a foreclosure, in which case there would be no deed into him unless there was a Receiver appointed.

Fifth, in a couple of very rare instances, I have researched a property where there was literally not one single deed in the entire chain of title going back to sovereignty (unless one considers a Patent from the State of Texas a deed, which I don't). It was all a combination of Probates, Affidavits, and/or Court cases. In one case I researched, there was one deed for a big piece of land about 130 years ago and NO other instruments at all in the chain of title. The property was conveyed through descent and distribution through successive generations up until the present, and at some points along the way the heirs-at-law alive at the time would convey one piece or another off of the "main chunk" of land.

Obviously, without actually researching the title to your property in the County where it is located, and reading the actual instruments involved, it is impossible for me to know whether or not any of these scenarios applies in your case or not. Probably not. But if you cannot find the deed from a trip to the County Clerk’s Office, one of these scenarios might be at play.

Sincerely,

P. W.

26

This is most helpful information. It will be of great assistance as I proceed in my search. Thank you, Mr. Wrench.

Pete Wrench said:

Dear Ms. Anderssen,

Most likely, there is a deed describing the exact acreage for the minerals you inherited, and you would find it in the County Clerk's Office by searching for the name of the person from whom you inherited the property as the Grantee (or buyer) of the property, going backwards in time starting with his date of death. However, there are a couple of scenarios that I can think of where there might not be a deed at all describing exactly what you own at the present time.

First, if the property you inherited came out of a larger piece of property and the person from whom you inherited sold of one or more pieces of the larger piece before passing away with the remnant, especially if the person from whom you inherited died without a Will at all, OR owned the larger piece intact at the time of death but then subdivided it to you and at least one other person in a Will, there might not be a deed in existence for exactly what you own right now.

Second, even if the person from whom you inherited did have a Will, if the Will was filed as a Muniment of Title, meaning just to convey title to the persons listed in the Will, then there will not be an Executor’s Deed into you, the conveyance would have been made through the Will and the Court proceeding itself. If the Will was filed for what I call "regular Probate," meaning that an Inventory and Appraisement was conducted and an Executor managed income and expenses for the Estate, then there probably was an Executor's Deed conveying to you the property that you inherited filed in the County Clerk’s Office, but not necessarily. It depends upon what transpired in the Court proceedings. If there was an Executor’s Deed into you, then obviously you got bad advice about “the deed will precede the inheritance” because the Executor’s Deed cannot be executed until after the death of the person from whom you inherited and the initiation of the Probate proceedings into his Estate.

Third, even if you inherited a 100% ownership in a tract of land from a person who had acquired that exact same tract of land from somebody else, not a larger piece of land that he then carved up, the person from whom you inherited might have acquired that property for himself through one of the first two scenarios above, in which case there might not be a deed INTO the person from whom you inherited.

Fourth, the person from whom you inherited might have acquired the land, or a larger piece of land from which your property was carved, through a court case that is not a foreclosure, in which case there would be no deed into him unless there was a Receiver appointed.

Fifth, in a couple of very rare instances, I have researched a property where there was literally not one single deed in the entire chain of title going back to sovereignty (unless one considers a Patent from the State of Texas a deed, which I don't). It was all a combination of Probates, Affidavits, and/or Court cases. In one case I researched, there was one deed for a big piece of land about 130 years ago and NO other instruments at all in the chain of title. The property was conveyed through descent and distribution through successive generations up until the present, and at some points along the way the heirs-at-law alive at the time would convey one piece or another off of the "main chunk" of land.

Obviously, without actually researching the title to your property in the County where it is located, and reading the actual instruments involved, it is impossible for me to know whether or not any of these scenarios applies in your case or not. Probably not. But if you cannot find the deed from a trip to the County Clerk’s Office, one of these scenarios might be at play.

Sincerely,

P. W.