In 2005 I was given a mineral deed for forty acres in Payne County Okla 08-19n-5e. In June of this year I received a letter and contract for $200.00 an acre. I was unsure of some of the termanolgy the landman had in this letter and I contacted an attorney about this. He neogated a contract for me and it seemed reasonable and he advised me to sign it as it would not get any better. December of this year I received a check for twenty acres instead of forty acres. I contacted my attorney and he contacted the company (Sodak Properties). I had the defend the title clause omitted from the contract and evidently they did a title search and said I was entitled to twenty mineral acres. My question is, why does my mineral deed say forty acres and they say I am only entitled to twenty acres? My complete discription is Northwest Quarter of the Southwest Quarter (NW/4 Sw/4) of section eight (8) township nineteen (19) north, range five (5) east of the Indian meridan Payne county , Okla.
Mr. King you may have a 1/2 undivided interest in the 40 gross acres. Someone or several someones, own the other 1/2 interest. If so, they paid you bonus on the net mineral acres you own. You may be able to find a reference to net mineral acres in your lease, the letter proposing the lease offer, or you may have to research the chain of title from the original owners deed through all owners to present to find one or more reservations of mineral interest when ownership changed. If you look through what you have and don't find anything that satisfies you, I'd try to get in touch with the lessees landman, he could probably point you to the reservation and save you alot of time.
You can go oklahomacountyrecords.com and search by your name or legal description in Payne County. You should be able to find it relatively easy since you received the deed in 2005. It'll cost you to preview and print out the record.
I'm new at this too, but have a lot of years of research experience behind me, so know it can be quiet tedious, but you can find a lot of information on the activity of well permits, etc. on the Oklahoma Corporation Commission site too.
The grantor (person or entity transferring title to you) on the deed could only transfer to you what he/she/it had to transfer, regardless of what they put on the deed. My guess is that the grantor had less than an undivided interest in the NW/4 SW/4 (i.e., they only had a 1/2 interest in that description). It is not uncommon for a deed to describe more than the grantor has to give. If you want a definitive answer, you can hire an independent landman to go to Payne County and run the title for you and create a title report that will give you the details of your chain of title. That will cost you between $250 and $500 as they normally charge by the day plus mileage. If they can do it in 1/2 a day, you're probably looking at something on the lower end of that range. I can recommend an independent landman to you if you are interested. You can go to the county courthouse and attempt to do this yourself. The clerks are generally pretty helpful and if the title is simple, you might be able to sort it out. You might also waste a lot of your time and, depending on the complexity of the title, not be sure of what you have.
The online resource mentioned by another poster is very helpful, but only goes back so far (mid-90's in most counties). That may or may not go back far enough to answer your question. If you want a definitive answer, you need to go back to when the U.S. issued the patent to the first owner.
I thank you for your reply. I believe this is what my attorney was trying to tell me but I wanted a second opinion on this matter.
r w kennedy said:
Mr. King you may have a 1/2 undivided interest in the 40 gross acres. Someone or several someones, own the other 1/2 interest. If so, they paid you bonus on the net mineral acres you own. You may be able to find a reference to net mineral acres in your lease, the letter proposing the lease offer, or you may have to research the chain of title from the original owners deed through all owners to present to find one or more reservations of mineral interest when ownership changed. If you look through what you have and don't find anything that satisfies you, I'd try to get in touch with the lessees landman, he could probably point you to the reservation and save you alot of time.
I thank for your reply, I have in my possesion a copy of all the documents pertaining to this deed. KI said:
John,
You can go oklahomacountyrecords.com and search by your name or legal description in Payne County. You should be able to find it relatively easy since you received the deed in 2005. It'll cost you to preview and print out the record.
I'm new at this too, but have a lot of years of research experience behind me, so know it can be quiet tedious, but you can find a lot of information on the activity of well permits, etc. on the Oklahoma Corporation Commission site too.
I thank you for your reply. I was looking for a second opinion on this matter as this is what my attorney was trying to convey to me. Thanks again
Gabe Bass said:
The grantor (person or entity transferring title to you) on the deed could only transfer to you what he/she/it had to transfer, regardless of what they put on the deed. My guess is that the grantor had less than an undivided interest in the NW/4 SW/4 (i.e., they only had a 1/2 interest in that description). It is not uncommon for a deed to describe more than the grantor has to give. If you want a definitive answer, you can hire an independent landman to go to Payne County and run the title for you and create a title report that will give you the details of your chain of title. That will cost you between $250 and $500 as they normally charge by the day plus mileage. If they can do it in 1/2 a day, you're probably looking at something on the lower end of that range. I can recommend an independent landman to you if you are interested. You can go to the county courthouse and attempt to do this yourself. The clerks are generally pretty helpful and if the title is simple, you might be able to sort it out. You might also waste a lot of your time and, depending on the complexity of the title, not be sure of what you have.