I’m running title on a Section that has two recorded patents for one tract. The first recorded patent has minerals reserved to the U.S. and was recorded in 1920. The second patent does NOT reserve minerals to the U.S. and was recorded in 1980. Then there is a 3rd patent found on the Bureau of Land Management website (not recorded) that does NOT reserve the minerals.
Moving further on in the title process, there are several owners taking mineral leases, the pooling declaration lists these leases.
My question is: Which patent is the legal and correct patent to run title? Also, would this cause legal issues with ownership between the U.S. and supposed fee owners?
Keep in mind there are no Decrees, Judgments, or Affidavits detailing what might or might not have happened. The state I am running title in is a race state.
Is this located on Indian Lands/a Reservation?
Does the US or a railroad take any OGLS from 1920-on?
Do individuals take ogls from 1920-1980? If so, does a new “set of individuals” start taking leasing post 1980 Patent?
Way to many questions and unknowns, but you should be able to look at who was leasing during the time periods, to get an idea of who owns what. If youre a title attorney, just write a comment/requirement listing possible owners, the situation and let the operator sort it out and make the final call.
It is located on Indian Lands. No railroad OGLs. The first OGLs taken between 1920 - 1980 were all released. There are in fact OGLs after the second patent. I would answer the state questions, except that I am legally bound by the firm I work for to keep that information confidential. It looks as if the oil companies are pooling the later leases which leads me to believe they are adhering to the 1980 patent. I just didn’t know which would hold if a dispute ever came about. I would guess that the people getting paid would hold be strong stakeholders for the interest. It’s just unusual to see patents come in for the same tract and have different reservations. I’m running with the 1980 patent. I just thought maybe someone had some insight as to which one would stand in court if the U.S. ever came back and said “no that’s fed land, the minerals were reserved.” The state I’m running being a race state, I didn’t know if that applied to patents from the U.S. One other item, both patents are to the same person and there is no corrective language that would indicate that the patent was just being re-recorded to correct the reservation.
Since its on Indian Lands, its hard to give sound advice online without knowing all the facts. If there are no wells that are still producing since the 1980 patent, its rather safe to say that the most recent Patent carries the weight. But, Indian lands can be very tricky as they often dont file deeds, leases etc in the county courthouse.