Not an attorney, and also not sure where you are saying this land/mineral interest is located, but generally if the recorded deed you found stated that your mother in law retained the mineral interest when she sold the property then she wouldn’t have been required to record anything further.
Was your mother in law the lessor on that recorded lease with Cheasapeake that you mentioned? If not, and the individual she sold to was the lessor, then something more may be required.
Depending on the State law involved, settling your mother in law’s estate will require probate or other recorded means to transfer the title to that mineral interest to your wife and her sister.
Generally speaking a warranty deed conveys all property unless the mineral interests were specifically reserved. An attorney in the state where the property is located should be able to answer that question promptly.
This post is not legal, tax or investment advice. Reading or responding to this post does not create an attorney/client relationship.
Thanks for the quick reply, The problem is we dont have the documents. We are going to sign up for the website so we can get access. Bryan County records have Grantor/Grantee and her mom is Grantor in both filings. My gut feeling is it will be too expensive to hire an attorney to change the name since the property has not produced any income yet. Bryan County has a sub-probate process for non residents.She also had mineral rights in Independence County AR which has produced some minor income but is it worth it spending a few thousand to hire an attorney? we’re in the info gathering phase
got the documents. Sale of land (July 2007) - no mention of retained MR. she was able to execute a OGL in Sept 2007 w/ Cheasapeake so she must of had the rights. Do MR have to be recorded if they are not part of the land sale docunent?
A landowner can sell the land and reserve the mineral rights or a portion of them on the deed. But if the landowner did not own any at the time of sale it would not make any difference.
You need to have deed reviewed by a title attorney to determine whether mineral rights were retained in light of state law. Wording matters, such as assigning only surface or specifically retaining minerals. Chesapeake could have taken a lease based on a title run before July sale.
yeah thank you. The deed is short and again, makes no mention of mineral rights just real property but perhaps I missed something. But this, to me, seems easy since its non revenue producing. why spend $ for an attorney?