Surface owner/Mineral Rights ower

This is all new to me and I have a bizillion questions! It has just been confirmed that my father still has the mineral rights on the property that his father left to him in 1947. The property has been sold several times; however, the mineral rights still belong to my father. How does leasing go if the surface property belongs to a different individual other than the mineral rights owner?

Hello Pam. When the surface right and the mineral rights are seperated, as in the case of your father’s land, the minerals and surface exist as separate estates. The mineral estate has domonance over the rights of the surface owner (for the most part—there can be excpetions) whne it comes to use of the surface for oil and gas exploration. The short answer to my question is that you can lease the minerals without regard or worry about the surface owner, just as the surface owner can execute a deer lease without talking to the mineral owner. In any event, I would recommend that any lease executed by your father contain appropriate surface damage provisions to protect the surface owner. It doesn’t hurt to be a good neighbor.

Thank you so much! As mentioned we are new to this and were just up in NE PA to confirm the mineral rights.

David B. McCall said:

Hello Pam. When the surface right and the mineral rights are seperated, as in the case of your father’s land, the minerals and surface exist as separate estates. The mineral estate has domonance over the rights of the surface owner (for the most part—there can be excpetions) whne it comes to use of the surface for oil and gas exploration. The short answer to my question is that you can lease the minerals without regard or worry about the surface owner, just as the surface owner can execute a deer lease without talking to the mineral owner. In any event, I would recommend that any lease executed by your father contain appropriate surface damage provisions to protect the surface owner. It doesn’t hurt to be a good neighbor.

I own property in Catarina (Dimmit County) but am not 100% certain that I am the mineral rights owner. How do I determine mineral rights ownership? I contacted a landman to do research for me but he quoted a rate of $2,000 for approximately 3 days’ work. Does this sound right? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Fortunately my cousin was able to provide recorded deeds from when the property was initially sold in 1950 that stated that my father retained mineral rights. This info was found in the courthouse deed books. He also had a copy of my grandfather’s will that stated the mineral rights would not be sold. This property is in NE PA.

Hope Balderas said:

I own property in Catarina (Dimmit County) but am not 100% certain that I am the mineral rights owner. How do I determine mineral rights ownership? I contacted a landman to do research for me but he quoted a rate of $2,000 for approximately 3 days’ work. Does this sound right? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

You need to do more research than just looking at the deed your father received. While it may state that he kept all the minerals, deeds prior to his ownership may have had similar reservations meaning the minerals could have been reserved by previous owners. To know exactly what you or your family owns, you would need to perform a search of all records for that tract of land from patent (first deed issued) to present. While I know that running title in Oklahoma or Arkansas could be vastly different than in other states, a good landman should be able to run full title on mineral ownership in a day (again, this is here in Oklahoma and Arkansas). States with longer histories means they probably have more land records to sift through, so it could take much longer, like the three days listed above or even more.

And $2,000 for three days work? Wow. I'm working in the wrong state then for individual mineral ownerships! LOL