Division Order Advice

I cannot imagine any operator would remove this clause, although I’m not a lawyer. As Ms. Barnes wrote, that same language protecting operators from title disputes is found in most division order contracts nationwide as part of the NADOA model form, often verbatim. Operators have probably been burned many times, including when family members challenge one another’s royalties.

Your risk that someone would overturn your title is mitigated by the operator’s Division Order Title Opinion prepared prior to sending DO contracts to royalty owners, although title searches are not perfect or infallible, and surprise claimants may appear. Also, if somebody is going to challenge your interest, most likely the challenge would have surfaced before DO time.

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