Oopps. I posted in the wrong area a minute ago. Before I spend money looking for legal advice, I thought maybe you all could send me in the right direction. Out of the blue I received a letter from a “field representative” from Russellville, saying that they are “trying to fulfill title requirement from a SECO title attorney’s title option”. The documents are titled “Stipulation of ownership of mineral interest”. “An erroneous description has appeared throughout many previous tittle documents. It is Parties’ desire to declare, stipulate, acknowledge, and establish of record each of their ownership interest in the mineral estate in Lands above described”. Lots of legal jargon and a form asking me to sign and notarize something. The % of ownership on the paperwork appears to be right on my part, but there are 4 other owners on other lots and detailed acreage descriptions for all of us. I guess I’m looking for advise on if this sounds like something common and what could be the ramifications if I ignore it. I’m not real interested in spending money on an attorney. My mineral rights aren’t even being leased at the moment.
Yes, but if you got that letter you can bet someone will want to lease it someday and probably sooner rather than later. I would not warrantee title for them, but this is a legal question and you need to get legal advice. You might try contacting that person (is it a title company or abstract company?) and asking an explanation. Otherwise, you honestly need to find an attorney...and one willing to work on a fee basis not on a percentage of your mineral rights.
Dear Ms. Harper,
A Stipulation of Interest is a fairly common document used to help cure title, i.e. to remove any questions or "cloud" on the title. If the representative is trying to cure a title opinion, then a well is planned. To have a full mineral title opinion rendered is pretty expensive and are only done when there is a well either on the drilling schedule, or will be shortly.
Before each title requirement is made, the examining title attorney gives a brief discussion of the title and gives the justification for his requirement or comment. I would ask to see that portion of the title opinion before I made any decisions as to execution of the curative document. If you choose to have your own attorney advise you on this matter, he would certainly want to see the discussion written by the examining attorney.
Best,
Buddy CottenYou should consult an attorney experienced in real estate title to be sure that you fully understand your ownership as set out in the Stipulation. Once the Stipulation is signed by all owners in the tract(s) and it is filed of record, then it will be binding as to ownership. You cannot later claim there was an error. Ask the company for the title opinion to better understand all the issues. Also ask for a spreadsheet or flow chart setting out the fractional ownership over time down to your interest(s). Your attorney will want to read the deeds because the specific granting language and order of dates may affect the ownership. While the letter seems to say that the problem is that the various deeds contain erroneous or conflicting legal descriptions, this may not be all of the issues. It is in your interest to have a clear and definite title. You also want to be sure that you do not lose a portion of your minerals if it turns out that you have rights in more than one tract.
PS - again, someone is doing this for a purpose and SEECO has been active in the county expanding the Fayetteville play to the West.... I would expect some leasing activity to start up if I were you.
Megan, I sent you a request.