The property on which I inherited mineral rights in Creek Co., OK reads thus:
Northwest half of northeast quarter; North half of northeast quarter of northeast quarter, of Section 36, Township 14, Range 10 East.
That is a semicolon after the phrase, "Northwest half of northeast quarter:." My understanding is that the semicolon stands for "and."
The lease offer I received states that I may have an interest in 15 acres. I'm just learning to read legal descriptions, but according to my understanding, this should be a 60 acre parcel. Years ago my dad said that it was 60 acres.
Also, I don't understand the phrase, "Northwest half of northeast quarter." I thought a half of a quarter needed to be N, S, E, or W. How can it be a 'Northwest half?'
Any thoughts?
Dear Mr. Sanley,
It sounds like you have a bad description if the acreage is thought to be 60 acres.
The description as written describes 100 acres.
NW/2 of NE/4=80 acres
N/2 of NE/4 of NE/4 = 20 acres
Can you have a NW/2 of a quarter section? Sure. Draw a line from the NE corner of the quarter section to the SW corner of the quarter section. The NW/2 is that triangular shaped portion to the left of the scribed line.
I would be a hamburger that the proper description should begin with:
NW/4 of the NE/4 = 40 acres. That totaled with the balance of the description equals a 60 acre tract.
Best
Buddy Cotten
Thank you, Buddy. That makes sense!
P. Stanley
The best advice would be to pose your questions about the acreage to the offeror.
It is also possible that they meant you own 15 acres net, but any speculation like that would be worthless.
Call them back or write to them and tell them of your concerns regarding the description etc..
They are basing whatever they saw and calculated on something they saw or perceived.
No one here ran the title, or reviewed any of the instruments, so the person who contacted you has an advantage in that regard.
Good luck in getting it resolved.
You are correct, Dave. After I wrote the question here, I got another call from the Landman. The property is 60 acres, however it turns out that my grandfather only had mineral rights to 15 acres, and that is what we've inherited. Thank you for your response.
You're welcome. We do the best we can with the information provided. Sometimes speculation is necessary, but you have to take it for what it is worth. It can be right at times, based on educated guesses, as your reply indicated.