ok, so in early 2021 someone contacted me an my neice about buying some mineral rights we didnt know we owned. we inherited them. we got all that taken care of , but today my neice called an said someone called about more minerial rights in another county under exxon . so it may be we may have inherited more than we knew about. how do i find out
The simple answer is, check the deed records in any Texas counties where you have reason to think the person you are the heir of may have owned land or mineral interest, starting with the two counties you’ve already been contacted about.
Depending how far back that person might have owned minerals, and which counties are involved, some of that can be done online, through deed records posted by the County Clerk or through commercial sites, like Texas File or Courthouse Direct. It’s free to set up an account on those sites and search their deed indexes for names you’re interested in but there will be a per page charge if you want to look at or print documents you find.
If that doesn’t work, and you can’t physically go to the County courthouses yourself to check the recorded deed, then it may require hiring a landman to research them for you. In any case you’ll need to have some idea about the Counties that are logical to consider as a starting point.
Some good advice from Dusty. If you have the name of the relative from whom inherited the minerals and want a fast county search, then Texas File has a $5 charge for a single name search of all of the counties in their system. That is a search of over 200 counties for $5 (pros use this all of the time). Be aware that the start date of their record file varies widely on a county basis. Pro tip: always contact the CAD or the Assessor to check the Delinquent Mineral Roll. This will help you to protect your interest and potentially direct you to suspense/unclaimed funds.
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