Is it possible to determine mineral acres owned from a Quit Claim deed?

[gdonner]

Is there any way to determine how many mineral acres are owned from a Quit Claim deed (in this case, McClain County)?

There are a bunch of descriptions on the deed my aunt Quit Claimed, like the one below (which is filed with McClain County):

Sec. 7 E2 SW4 SE4 and SE4 SE4 T7N R3W

I’m at a loss as to how much useful information these descriptions actually convey? I say that, as there is no mention of actual mineral acreage owned on the deed; just the geographical location of these “chunks” of land.

Thanks for any help on this!

[PeteR]

Gdonner, if your deed has information about your percentage of ownership then you would know the mineral acres. The descriptions you noticed would give the raw or gross acres. For instance your description of E2 SW4 SE4 and SE4 SE4 would be about 60 acres. If you have 100% ownership, you would have around 60 mineral acres. Most likely, and often with Quit Claim Deeds, you will have to look up preceding deeds to find your percentage of ownership. The exact gross acreage can be looked up on the Bureau of Land Management site https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx?searchTabIndex=0&searchByTypeIndex=1

[John_Moseley]

If the deed states the net mineral acres or the undivided interest, yes. Otherwise, you probably need a title search.

[gdonner]

@PeteR and @John_Moseley: Thank you for the replies–very helpful!

[Larry_W_Love]

A quit claim deed only conveys whatever interest your aunt had at the time of her transfer. A quit claim deed can convey a fee simple interest in a property to nothing at at all. In other words, if I own it, you will get it but, if I don’t, you won’t. At least in Texas, few title companies will insure a title if there is a quit claim deed in the chain.

That is why you need to search the records to find when your aunt acquired the properties, from whom, and what they conveyed. The mineral interests, in whole or in part, may have been retained by one or more of her predecessors in title.

[gdonner]

Thanks Larry–much appreciated!

[Richard_Winblad]

At best a quit claim deed may give you a hint as to what was actually owned. For example, if it said “my interest in the NW/ of Section 1, Township 1 North, Range 1 West” this would not necessarily mean that you now have 160 net mineral acres. If auntie only owned 1 net mineral acre, then that is what you get. Likewise, a warranty deed does not grant you more than what was actually owned. The difference is under a warranty deed you may be able to sue the grantor if title is less than what was actually described in the deed…

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