Could someone translate these legal descriptions, and tell me how many acres they contain:
E/2 SW/4
SE/4 SW/4
N/2 S/2 NE/4
These are just examples. Need to learn to read these. Also, can someone tell me the difference between gross acres and net acres? Thank you.
E/2 SW/4 -- that is the east 1/2 of the southwest quarter of a section = 80 acres
SE/4 SW/4 -- southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of a section = 40 acres
N/2 S/2 NE/4 -- north half of the south half of the northeast quarter of a section = 40 acres
the right hand part is always referring to the part of a section and reading to left gets to smaller parts
Someone Please verify this - I have worked with this in past but want someone to check me!!
Ron
Looks correct. The difference between net and gross acres is the gross acres are all the acres you have an interest in. The net acres are the number of acres you own out of the gross acres. For example, if you own one half of 100 acres, you have 100 gross acres and 50 net acres.
Thank you Ron and Wade for the very clear explanation. One more question. I can get the legal description from the county website. But, I believe I would have to go to the County Clerks office to find out my % ownership. I have been trusting the oil company title search for that. Is that ok? Will they usually give me a copy of the title search if I ask? My parcels are small and I live in California and the leases are in Oklahoma. Thanks.
Katherine,
It is a bit difficult to find that information. Yes, it will be found in the County Clerk office where they are located.
However it involves a manual search through the records. You have to follow the trail. I have not had much luck in getting the oil companies to provide a copy of the title search, but several have provided page and book numbers for parts of it to clarify information when I had questions. Some I have researched myself, some I found to be difficult enough I hired someone to do it for me.
There may be a clause in your lease where they have to provide copies of the title opinions. If not, then they may or may not give it to you, but I don’t know if there is something in Oklahomalaw where they are required to.
Ron Bahm said:
E/2 SW/4 -- that is the east 1/2 of the southwest quarter of a section = 80 acres
SE/4 SW/4 -- southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of a section = 40 acres
N/2 S/2 NE/4 -- north half of the south half of the northeast quarter of a section = 40 acres
the right hand part is always referring to the part of a section and reading to left gets to smaller parts
Someone Please verify this - I have worked with this in past but want someone to check me!!
Ron
Thanx Ron Bahm for filling in some holes in this area.
Can this element be broke down any further???
I have a Legal Description that reads as follows:
Section 2: Lots 1(40.01), 2(40.03), S2NE4
From your Great discussion, I can figure out the S2NE4 but what's this Lots WXYZ all about???
Can you shed any light???
One(1) other quick question; I know the sections are one(1) mile square, how many acres in a square mile???
Once again Thanx...
A standard section contains 640 acres.
Typically “lots” are corrections and will be across the North and West section lines. They are used in place of a 1/4 of the ¼ and will contain about 40 acres. Section 2: Lots 1(40.01), 2(40.03), S2 NE4. What this description is describing is the NE 1/4 of the entire section and it would have been listed as NE/4 of Section 2 Township XXX Range XXXX. However since it contains non-conforming correction lots, it was described as above. I have not seen them with the acreage in the Oklahoma descriptions I have ran across. Usually it will look something like this. Lots 1 and 2 and S/2 NE/4 of Section 2 Township XXX Range XXXX. Not as much of a correction on this one as I usually come across. This one is a 160.04 acre ¼ instead of a 160 acre ¼
I did a quick search and here is a more detailed explanation.
http://jay.law.ou.edu/faculty/Hampton/Mineral%20Title%20Examination...
Yes, a standard section is one mile square, or 640 acres. But due to the curvature of the Earth, and with the lots created to account for this curvature and still have the map come out right, not all sections are exactly 640 acres. Some of the sections I worked on in Illinois were as big as 164 acres, more or less.