To find out if there are any mineral rights records, a mineral rights search entails searching for them outside of the current property owner. The landowner may not be the owner of the mineral rights.
Since these rights do not pass automatically with property ownership, it is necessary to advise new owners of these rights. Early gas and oil companies sold the property above ground, but they kept the rights to mine minerals down the road.
The majority of these elements have made it challenging to monitor mineral rights and mineral deeds on ground property. Most people can tell who owns a piece of land or property, or at least who has the power to give someone access to it. We’ll go over how to find out who is the mineral rights owner of your property.
How Do Mineral Rights Occur?
Natural gas, oil, and coal are the most frequently mentioned minerals when it comes to mineral rights. Rarely but occasionally included are minerals such as gold, silver, and others.
The conveyance, which is the legal document that governs the purchase or sale of mineral rights, specifies how the owner of the rights may extract, use, or sell the minerals that are beneath the surface of a plot of land. A conveyance may contain all of the listed minerals or only some of them.
How can you find out if you own mineral rights and if so, how?
It can be difficult to determine who owns the mineral rights to a piece of land, but learning who owns the rights to your own land can be a fruitful and surprising experience. The property deed is a good place to start your search for mineral owners.
You can get the information you need to start your search from a property deed. It will also give you an idea of the kind of data you’ll need to collect. Below are some details to be aware of:
Deeds can be of various types, such as royalty deeds, quitclaim deeds, real estate deeds, title deeds, or other terms. The details in the deed’s description determine the type.
- Details about the seller: Typically, the seller is referred to as the grantor. Find out details about the previous owners of the property, including their name and address at the time of sale. Compile a history of all prior landowners when looking for mineral rights. You’ll be able to connect with the mineral rights owner by doing this.
- Information about the buyer: The deed lists the grantee’s name, while conveyance refers to the buyer’s transfer of property rights. This section often includes exclusions from rights conveyances and the process of obtaining property rights.
- Description of the Property: Property descriptions in PLSS states include Township, Section, and Property Location Range. Learn the structure and writing style of PLSS descriptions, including the old British metes and bounds system in Texas.
How to Find Out Who Owns the Mineral Rights to My Property: What is the price of a mineral search?
It costs money to hire an online record search company to look up records for you.
Depending on the research’s findings, the price per 640 acres usually varies from $200 to $5000.
In addition to identifying the owners of minerals through the examination of private and public records, the search process involves assessing and correcting title defects or other title risks related to mineral ownership.
For every report, the search firm determines the cost. A few more variables that may affect the price are the distance from ongoing exploration, the intricacy of the mineral interest legal description, and the completion date.
How to Find Out Who Owns the Mineral Rights to My Property: How do I look up records related to mineral rights?
You should delve deeper when searching for mineral rights records, in addition to examining the current landowners and their tax payers. Let’s examine a few of the items you should check.
Documents from the Tax Assessor’s Office and County Records
To discover the owner’s history in the title deed, search for it at the county records office. Examine the property’s history by following the line of owners. This can reveal whether an oil and gas company has ever owned the land or property. It provides you with a precise direction on where to look for mineral ownership rights. The deed includes a description of the land, easements, mineral rights, liens on oil and gas, and rights-of-way.
Look far into the records to see if the current deed includes mineral rights. Historical deeds from the 1900s and earlier, when the sale of mineral rights was common, should receive particular attention.
Experience with Foreclosure and Loan Defaults
Mineral rights are taken possession of by a bank when it forecloses on a property. Should there be an auction after the foreclosure, the bank has the option to decline to assign the mineral rights. Stated differently, the bank retains ownership of the minerals and stands to gain from the royalties on oil and gas.
Deeds of royalty
Royalties are another thing. Royalty deeds confer upon the owner the right to receive a royalty in the event that an oil company or other entity exploits the minerals, as opposed to mineral rights deeds, which grant holders the right to explore and conduct drilling activity.
It implies that holders of royalty deeds profit monetarily from royalty checks, while owners of mineral rights do all the labor. Mineral production, such as the establishment and production of oil-producing wells, gas leases, and other oil and gas-related activities, is the source of royalties.
Hire a title company to look things up.
Hiring a title company to conduct in-depth mineral rights research on the property could save you time. Title companies are more equipped to locate comprehensive records about mineral rights, even though they charge for this search. The title company might discover something that you would miss.
Even seasoned experts may need a week or longer to find the mineral rights records and trace the chain of title. Put in as much work as you can to save money. However, the county clerk’s office still charges for deed copies and searches.
Online record-searching enterprise
You could use an online record search service instead of going through the books and records kept at the courthouse. Mineral management software (MMS) digitizes and makes accessible online records from hundreds of counties. You can access the largest online repository for a small fee. You or a title company can find county records with this convenient and time-saving search option.
Employ a Lawyer to Assist in Determining Your Mineral Ownership
When transferring property rights with minerals reserved, an attorney can be a very useful tool in property deeds. They can assist with researching titles and drafting paperwork to resolve title disputes. In the event that Mr. Allen sold his property in 1905 and passed away without leaving a will in 1915, his wife and his four children would inherit his belongings. Each child’s grandchildren would get half of the remaining 50% if they passed away in 1965. Legal counsel is necessary in this complex situation.
Questions and Answers to How to Find Out Who Owns the Mineral Rights to My Property:
Do the majority of people own their property’s mineral rights?
A landowner might be the owner of all resources above ground but not subsurface resources like minerals, oil, or gas. Unless they decide to sell the mineral rights to another party, landowners in the US are the owners of both surface and mineral rights.
What minerals are on my property, and how can I find out?
Look into obtaining these rights by visiting the county courthouse. Usually, a deed record of their mineral rights is available. You can then get in touch with the rights holders from there.
Are mineral rights ever appropriate to sell?
There may be valid reasons for you to sell your mineral rights, whether or not you have an offer on the table, to investigate additional options. You may have to wait years for something to happen to a nonproducing property, and even after several leases, nothing may ever happen.
And if you discover oil on your property?
It is legally permissible in the United States to own and transfer the rights to exploit and extract natural resources, such as oil, gas, and precious minerals, apart from the land itself. As a result, you are free to sell real estate while keeping title to all natural resources.
How can I locate Texas mineral rights records?
In the records vault located in the county clerk’s offices, there are deeds for every property from the time of sovereignty until the present. What rights the property owner is selling or reserving will be clear from the deeds.
In summary of How to Find Out Who Owns the Mineral Rights to My Property:
Gaps in ownership chains can occur as a result of past owners’ misfiling deeds or bank claims. To guarantee correct conveyance, keep these things in mind when looking for property mineral rights records.
