We have property in Houston County and Anderson County. In warranty deed and from our recall we have no mineral rights. However, a landman representing Drake sent us a draft contract and offer letter for a small portion of our total acreage. Why would they do this and what are best steps to confirm that no mineral rights were conveyed to us at the time we purchased this land?
Others may correct me, but if your deed did not expressly EXCLUDE any minerals or mineral rights, then whatever minerals were owned by your seller (the “grantor”) were also sold to you along with the surface land. So you want to review all of your closing documents and especially the deed. Silence about minerals in the deed is good for you and you may in fact own the minerals that were owned by your seller.
However, if your seller had already sold his/her mineral interests, or they had been separated in a prior transaction, you wouldn’t get anything.
Don’t sign anything until you know what you own.
You will need to trace the title back through the deed history to see where there was a severance of minerals and what was severed. It is possible that only a portion of the minerals were severed, whether in under all of the surface or under a smaller tract. You can research yourself if hire a landman to assist you.