I Own a majority interest in a small land parcel in Karnes County, TX with an undivided interest. Looking for legal advice and assistance on petitioning the court for a sale while retaining my current separate mineral interest.
In Texas you can separate the mineral rights from the surface estate by a deed filed of record in the local County Clerks Office in the County where the property is located. You can also sell your undivided interest without going to court. You can sell your undivided interest to anyone. Try selling your interest to the others that own the other part. Or buy them out.
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It would be wise to get an attorney involved in order to sever mineral interest from the surface estate. One wrong word can nullify your intentions. The forum cannot give legal advice. There are several attorneys listed in the Directories tab above. You do not need to go to court unless something unusual is involved. The attorney will let you know if that is the case.
@Tombstone7805 you mention petitioning the Court regarding a sale, is there some impediment related to the property that requires a Court approval? Maintaining your mineral interest is a simple process that can be accomplished by executing a “Surface Only” deed. Most attorneys can assist you with this process.
How do U find attorney but live in az, property lea county for advice.
There are more than 10 partial owners to the surface rights. While I hold a majority interest, I’m seeking court intervention because they cannot all agree on a sale nor have they shown any interest in buying my portion. The property is 5 lots under an acre. It would be difficult to sell to anyone else without the buyer obtaining full ownership and title. I have found an attorney from the advertising link on this website and will try to proceed with a “partition action” and request the court facilitate the sale and distribution of proceeds.
I believe you are speaking to what is called a partition suit. This is necessary in situations like this. Definitely want to get an attorney to make that happen and cover your bases. You may be able to buy the full rights to surface through a forced public sale / auction in that process as well.
So, you and the 9+ others were conveyed 1 acre split between all of you in whatever %'s but owned together as a whole? The only question that matters is, what are they offering you for that 1 acre and how much of that would you get? Its not going to be a cheap legal battle especially with that many people involved, so depending on the offer, you might end up spending more on the legal front than what you get from the sale and taxes paid from it.