Hello, I have a deed for a couple acres of land in East Texas left to me from my mom and dad. There is a portion on that deed that I don't understand and it reads "All the oil, gas and other mineral in and under or that may be produced from the above described tract of land is excepted from this conveyance and the title to said oil, gas and other minerals is hereby reserved in the grantor herein and are not conveyed hereby". Can you let me know what that means? thanx and have a great day! Dorothy Berd
Dorothy, this means that your parents deeded you the surface only and reserved the minerals. They can execute an oil and gas lease, receive the bonus, and all royalties associated with their mineral interest, if there is production.
I'm sorry, I'm new at this an want to make sure I understand what you are saying. So do I understand if a company wanted to drill on this land would they have to lease the surface from me in order to do that? Who is "They?" Also when you say "reserved the minerals", I have no part in whatever is of value beneath the surface? Thank you so much.
Dorothy Beard
Dear Dorothy,
It means that
1.) THEY, the O&G company, would lease the mineral rights from your parents. The mineral owners rights have control over the surface owner's rights.
2.) When they lease the mineral rights, they have the right to use the surface estate. Under Texas law, this right allows them to use as much of the surface estate as is “reasonably necessary” for mineral exploration and production. This right requires no permission or consent from the surface owner.
A surface owner’s rights are limited. The oil company is not liable for damages unless the surface owner can prove one of the following: (1) the oil company went beyond what was “reasonably necessary” for exploration and production; (2) the company violated the accommodation doctrine; or (3) the company caused injuries due to its negligence.
That is why it is important for a surface owner to be involved with the mineral owners in lease negotiations so that protections and terms can be negotiated into the lease ... protections and terms to serve the surface owner.
3.) Correct! You have NO part in the oil and gas and other minerals that are beneath the surface, if there is production. But, on the upswing, you, as the landowner, DO own all the groundwater rights. And, in my opinion, water rights are just as, or even more valuable, than mineral rights. Groundwater is part of the surface estate, even though it is located below the surface. Under Texas law, unless specified otherwise, the mineral estate consists only of oil, gas, uranium, sulfur and salt.
Good luck,
Pat
Oh my goodness! This was so much help. My dad and mom are both the deceased, what would my brother and I have to do to get the deed put in our names or is that necessary since we are heirs as mentioned on the deed?
Dorothy, If your parents wills were probated, you can: 1) record an executors deed if the estates are still open; or 2) record in the deed records exemplified copies of your parents probate file. If there was no probate done, you can record an affidavit of heirship.
Everything above is 100% correct.
They leave out that IF your parents left you the mineral rights, but their will has NOT been probated, getting it done IS the way to go.
Of course, it's never easy.
I just went through this for my parents to probate my grandmother's death certificate (no will). After it was all said and done, my parents transferred all the mineral rights to my sister and I.
No one in my family wanted to take this on (the whole mineral rights issue). but agreed to let me do so. After almost one year, with a lot of paper going back and forth from my great grandparents estate, to my grandparents estate, I got both probated and I now have not only the 'Letters of Administration" (known in Texas as the Letters of Testamentary) listing me as the personal representative for my family, but also a Mineral Deed with my sister and my name on it. All legally done. Total cost for getting the probate done was about $60 in fees to the Lea County people and about $50 in getting certified copies of legal documents from the Tulsa County people. The big thing it costs is your time (which IS free but can be some what nerve racking).
Given your parents are deceased, any good probate judge will tell you that you SHOULD have your parents will probated. Just having a will IS NOT the end all/be all that a lot of people think.
This past year has been an education on land, mineral rights, mineral deeds, probating wills (two generations) from one state (Oklahoma) to getting another state to probate both parties deaths (one with a will, one without a will).
Once you have probated the will you CAN get a new Mineral Deed, IF your parents left the minerals to you and your brother. As long as they did NOT specifically leave the minerals to someone else, but by being their children it should fall to you and your brother.
If not, I don't have a clue what to tell you the next stage is. With my grand mother not leaving a will, we just probated the estate and all the mineral rights went to my father, the only remaining heir (all the rest have died).
So when my parents gave me a gift of the mineral rights to all this property, the value is assessed at ZERO because until it has been proven otherwise, it's pretty much an empty gesture. I'm not sure if we will ever find oil under the land we have the mineral rights to.
The saga continues to unfold as I walk through the process. IT HAS been a learning process. I've learned a lot about my family history. With the exception of what possessed my great grandfather to travel from Tulsa, Ok, to Hobbs, NM back in the early 1900's (by horseback?) I have learned more about land rights, mineral rights, probating wills and how things are handled if you do not have a probated will or no will at all (you still want to do a probate - that cost was minimal) you will find that if you have crossed all the 't's and dotted all the 'i's, you are on much firmer legal ground.
I wish you good luck in your process.
It's funny, in speaking with a Lea County Commissioner, he told me that once you start doing all the research yourself, it can become addictive. I will concur with that statement.
Hi JRW, thanks for sharing your experience with us! I'm investigating mineral rights in my family as well. I've described this as being like a genealogy project, but instead of researching people, it's researching the history of small and larger plots of land across several counties in Oklahoma. I'm teaching myself how to look up some of this information in various Oklahoma government entities and yes, it is kind of addictive! Thanks for letting the rest of us know that it is possible to succeed on your own and that you do not have to resort to attorneys for a good outcome.
Barbara,
My CURRENT research is about mineral rights in SE Lea County New Mexico. We own 640 acres of mineral rights there.
However, my next research will be in Oklahoma with mineral rights the family has there. Then on to Kansas for more research on mineral rights we own there.
No one in my family gave any of this the time of day. It may be a complete waste of time, but being retired, I have plenty of time to waste.
I have consistently told people that my family does not have that kind of luck, but in the back of my mind I hear the theme song from 'The Beverly Hillbillies' (TV, not the movie).
Even the county clerks in Lea County said "WHY NOT your family? Every other person who has gotten a lease was in your position at some time in the past, so why not your family?"
JRW, I am in the process of cataloging a bunch (>200) of small, separate mineral interests that my siblings and I inherited. I'm looking each of these up in the well search database in Oklahoma. I guess my next step will be the evaluation of each of them in the PUN database, to see if there is any active production.
Like you, no one in my family gave this much time of day. I'm taking this on so that we are going to be organized in order to make decisions for any leases that come our way, or should have, or ...
Good luck with the search!
Barbara,
After you do a primary search, make a secondary search of the surrounding sections. Also consider having someone do a search with 3rd party databases on respondent lists in the names of the owners in the chain of title. Paying someone for an hour of consulting time, might save you 10-20 hours of time on your part and find things you might otherwise miss.
You are doing the right thing to get them in order!
Oklahoma's first strike is not too far from the Beverly Hillbillies' song. In the 1850s a well was being drilled in search of saltwater. In that time saltwater was processed to extract the salt for curing meat. Instead of water they struck oil which was of little value in that time and location.
JRW said:
I have consistently told people that my family does not have that kind of luck, but in the back of my mind I hear the theme song from 'The Beverly Hillbillies' (TV, not the movie).
Hi Rick, thank you so much for the advice! Maybe you can help me answer a question that I have run into
I've gotten through about 120 of these properties, which vary from 160 to 10 acres.
I've got a lot of small parcels. Based on my interpretation of some of the information I have, we may have the situations where these smaller properties are part of a much larger lease.
How do I go about determining if a smaller parcel (say 40 acre) is included in a lease that spans a much larger area, and maybe more than one section?
A few of the leases may be within the last 10 years, but some are way older than that.
Thanks again for all the guidance and the OK state oil history information!
Barbara,
You'll have to locate those leases. okcountyrecords.com will support most counties, but the record dates will vary by county. See the list https://okcountyrecords.com/site-list You can search for free but will need a subscription to view. For older records you'll need to visit the court houses. It is also possible in some to request a copy of the index from the court clerk. These will run for $20-$60. In some cases, you might have luck calling a court clerk. "Hi I'm looking for a lease filed in between 1957 and 1961 on the N2 of NW/4 section 9-5N-3E in the name of Albert A Thompson." "Can you provide me the book and page number so I can order a copy". That might get them to look in the index for you because it is a small scope to search. "Hi I'm looking for a lease between 1950 and 1980 for section 9-5N-3E Albert A Thompson" will have a far less chance of getting help because of the increased date range and more open legal description.
Thanks Rick! I did stumble across that database. So far, I have been fortune and most of the counties that I am looking in are part of that. It is fantastic to be able to get this much information from my desk.
As far as I can tell, I can go back to ~1991 on digitized records (at least in Pontotoc county). I did purchase a subscription and this is really beneficial. For those who might want to try this, you can sign up for a set # of views, but you do not have to auto- renew monthly. This gave me enough views to get started.
I am getting royalty payments from some transporters and some producers, but I don't have the corresponding leases from each of them (I assume these pre-dated my inheritance in 2004). I plan to try matching up what I can and then filling in any gaps.
My next step will be finishing this research assignment and then working with family members to see who may have the leases.
Thanks again for the information!
Hi Wade! Thank you so very much for your advice. Blessings!
Wade Caldwell said:
Dorothy,
If your parents wills were probated, you can: 1) record an executors deed if the estates are still open; or 2) record in the deed records exemplified copies of your parents probate file.
If there was no probate done, you can record an affidavit of heirship.
Hi JRW! I am so very thankful for your advice. So very helpful! Blessings!
JRW said:
Everything above is 100% correct.
They leave out that IF your parents left you the mineral rights, but their will has NOT been probated, getting it done IS the way to go.
Of course, it's never easy.I just went through this for my parents to probate my grandmother's death certificate (no will). After it was all said and done, my parents transferred all the mineral rights to my sister and I.
No one in my family wanted to take this on (the whole mineral rights issue). but agreed to let me do so. After almost one year, with a lot of paper going back and forth from my great grandparents estate, to my grandparents estate, I got both probated and I now have not only the 'Letters of Administration" (known in Texas as the Letters of Testamentary) listing me as the personal representative for my family, but also a Mineral Deed with my sister and my name on it. All legally done. Total cost for getting the probate done was about $60 in fees to the Lea County people and about $50 in getting certified copies of legal documents from the Tulsa County people. The big thing it costs is your time (which IS free but can be some what nerve racking).Given your parents are deceased, any good probate judge will tell you that you SHOULD have your parents will probated. Just having a will IS NOT the end all/be all that a lot of people think.
This past year has been an education on land, mineral rights, mineral deeds, probating wills (two generations) from one state (Oklahoma) to getting another state to probate both parties deaths (one with a will, one without a will).Once you have probated the will you CAN get a new Mineral Deed, IF your parents left the minerals to you and your brother. As long as they did NOT specifically leave the minerals to someone else, but by being their children it should fall to you and your brother.
If not, I don't have a clue what to tell you the next stage is. With my grand mother not leaving a will, we just probated the estate and all the mineral rights went to my father, the only remaining heir (all the rest have died).
So when my parents gave me a gift of the mineral rights to all this property, the value is assessed at ZERO because until it has been proven otherwise, it's pretty much an empty gesture. I'm not sure if we will ever find oil under the land we have the mineral rights to.
The saga continues to unfold as I walk through the process. IT HAS been a learning process. I've learned a lot about my family history. With the exception of what possessed my great grandfather to travel from Tulsa, Ok, to Hobbs, NM back in the early 1900's (by horseback?) I have learned more about land rights, mineral rights, probating wills and how things are handled if you do not have a probated will or no will at all (you still want to do a probate - that cost was minimal) you will find that if you have crossed all the 't's and dotted all the 'i's, you are on much firmer legal ground.
I wish you good luck in your process.It's funny, in speaking with a Lea County Commissioner, he told me that once you start doing all the research yourself, it can become addictive. I will concur with that statement.
Hi Rick,
I have determined that there are 200 properties. These are spread among 83 sections. My investigation of the OCC database indicates that 23 of these sections have 0 producing wells on them (either never had any, or have wells showing now as PA, or the operator is not identified). So that leaves 60 sections with activity.
My plan now is to start checking the OK state revenue information (is this correct source? https://www4.oktax.onenet.net/GrossProduction/PublicSearchPUNbyLegal.php ).
Are you recommending searching through this same information for adjacent section activity?
Rick Howell said:
Barbara,
After you do a primary search, make a secondary search of the surrounding sections. Also consider having someone do a search with 3rd party databases on respondent lists in the names of the owners in the chain of title. Paying someone for an hour of consulting time, might save you 10-20 hours of time on your part and find things you might otherwise miss.
You are doing the right thing to get them in order!
Barbara,
One of the things you have to consider is that the OCC records and the OTC records may not report each section a well may be producing from. OCC has a SHL and BHL Surface Hole and Bottom Hole.
For instance look at the Allied 1-9H, API 3501924329. It has a SHL of 9-1S-3W. It produces from there, 15-1S-3W, and 16-1S-3W. If you search OCC on 15 and 16 you get nothing. 9 BHL, nothing. It will report on 9 SHL.
OTC reports all 3 sections, but that is not always the case with other wells. Unitizations is another matter.
You will get most of the wells in your search, but there is a chance with 200 properties you could miss a couple.
Allied 1-9H Production area:
Hi Rick, Thank you for the great illustration! Yes, that's just what I was concerned about. I am going to pick through these and hope to learn more as I go.