My wife's family received a notice of Adverse Possession claim for property for 10 acres located in Texas. My understanding is they can file a Statement of Claim of Mineral Rights for this but we aren't sure how to go about this which might stop the Adverse Possession claim (at least for the time being). Time is obviously of the paramount importance.
Have a copy of Statement of Claim of Mineral Rights from North Dakota citing their Century Code but have been unable to locate such for Texas.
Can one family member file this claim, do they do it all together on one or do each of them file separately?
Thanks for your help.
Jim
Dear Mr. Cannon,
This is a lawyer question. In Texas, it is very difficult to adversely possess against a co-tenant. This is the part that scares title examiners. Say, in 1911, grandpaw died and had 4 sons, one of which was a minor. Grandmaw and the three sons signed a deed with no minerals reserved. The 4th son still has his share.
Now 100 years later, a well is wanting to be drilled. How do you adequately satisfy yourself as a landman/abstractor as to the knowledge of the marital history of a guy that died intestate 100 years ago? There is still that nasty co-tenant situation that will raise its ugly head if the operator makes a good well.
For adverse possession to toll, the possessor must be open, hostile, notorious, continuous under claim of right and other acts of possession. To adversely possess against a co-tenant, I would suspect that the notice of claim to the co-tenant would be a great place to start to begin a open hostile claim against the co-tenant. Some will say that in Texas it is impossible to adversely possess against a co-tenant. Not so. But it needs to be well thought out to assert the claim.
Go back to paragraph one. You need a lawyer. You also need someone to research where this 10 acres is and what activity is going on in the area.
Thanks for the response. The family has the legal description of the land as described in the Original Petition and Request for Disclosure, being in La Salle County. Research shows this to be a very active area, I'm sure you'll agree. El Paso Exploration brought this to the attention of a family member ( and then 12 members served papers) and they want to file their statement of claim. I understand the individual(s) can do this without legal representation. Just wondering what Texas Code to site in the statement.
Buddy Cotten said:
Dear Mr. Cannon,
This is a lawyer question. In Texas, it is very difficult to adversely possess against a co-tenant. This is the part that scares title examiners. Say, in 1911, grandpaw died and had 4 sons, one of which was a minor. Grandmaw and the three sons signed a deed with no minerals reserved. The 4th son still has his share.
Now 100 years later, a well is wanting to be drilled. How do you adequately satisfy yourself as a landman/abstractor as to the knowledge of the marital history of a guy that died intestate 100 years ago? There is still that nasty co-tenant situation that will raise its ugly head if the operator makes a good well.
For adverse possession to toll, the possessor must be open, hostile, notorious, continuous under claim of right and other acts of possession. To adversely possess against a co-tenant, I would suspect that the notice of claim to the co-tenant would be a great place to start to begin a open hostile claim against the co-tenant. Some will say that in Texas it is impossible to adversely possess against a co-tenant. Not so. But it needs to be well thought out to assert the claim.
Go back to paragraph one. You need a lawyer. You also need someone to research where this 10 acres is and what activity is going on in the area.
Best of all things,
Buddy Cotten
Mineral Manager
Almost willing to bet a dollar that the property is just southeast of Cotulla. That property is wanting to be developed by El Paso and a (here unnamed) family has been filing suits to quiet title all over their large ranch, which they obtained on a competing chain years ago.
Again, my business advice is to get legal advice.
You are correct in all of the above. Thanks. Just not sure we want to deal with an attorney that may have ties to the family you referenced above. Would seem that attorneys in this area might have other interests than just their clients. Understanding is the family filed 16 suits in March alone and have filed in the low 4 figures over a period of time.
Thanks,
I try to keep my ear to the ground.
I hope that you are a co-tenant, rather than the heir of an abandoned property.
Jim Cannon said:
You are correct in all of the above. Thanks. Just not sure we want to deal with an attorney that may have ties to the family you referenced above. Would seem that attorneys in this area might have other interests than just their clients. Understanding is the family filed 16 suits in March alone and have filed in the low 4 figures over a period of time.
Jim-
This sounds like a lawsuit to quiet title that needs to be answered within the time shown on what you were served with. Texas does not have a dormant mineral rights act like North Dakota. However, it does have adverse possession laws. They are too complex to recap in a posting. Suggest you hire an attorney to at least advise you on how your adverse possession position looks, even if you are going to try to defend yourself.
Listen to Wade. He is a lawyer that knows from which he speaks.
As to attorneys down there getting conflicted, well....that would be unethical. They would have to be way dumb to do something like that. The firm involved is not in Cotulla. Fact is, the judge in Cotulla "rides the circuit."
If you present no defense, you lose. If you are like most that I know about, you owned a 1/2 mineral interest in 10 acres, likely severed in the 1920's and granddad (who was likely from the northern states) could not stand the snakes, spiders, scorpions and all the brush and just walked off in the depression. The family involved has not that much to do with it. El Paso is trying to clean title so that they can develop this 5000+ acre lease.
Your choices are very limited. The 5 net acres will not generate that much money. Nice dollars, but you cannot book the family's around the world cruise. The cost of defending would be too expensive for my pocketbook.
If it were me, I would hope to negotiate a royalty interest and let them have the minerals.
Again, betting a dollar, I bet that nobody in your family knew anything about this until they were contacted by El Paso doing their title work. The other side has been paying property taxes on this acreage for decades and using this land as a working cattle ranch. You would be hard pressed to assert possession of the lands when you have had none for the past 80 years or so.
Jim cannon,
Well your story is parallel to ours! We have been involved in a law suit for over a year now .
Did you find your land? I feel I know the altito subdivision ranch like the back of my hand !! Also, if your relative bought this property in 1908-1911 you will probably own 10 more acres! If any of this sounds familiar please email me at pammygrose@hotmail.com
This family doesn’t want to loose that’s for sure! If I had the time and resources I would contact everyone of these folks that own property in this area of cotulla!