Title Question

I have a question.  We own approx.. 6.8 acres.  We signed a lease and received our signing bonus.  However, when we had a title done on our real estate, we were told that an old deed from the 1920s has a royalty reservation.   is there something in the books about royalty abandonment?  I do recall asking this question when we first signed our lease and they indicated that since we owned less than 10 acres, we do not need to worry about that.  any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Mosley on October 9, 2014 at 2:36pm
What state?
Permalink Reply by Drb Bummy on October 9, 2014 at 2:54pm

Sorry, Ohio.  Belmont County

Permalink Reply by Barry D on October 11, 2014 at 2:11am

Drb,

There is legislation "on the books" and case law dealing with mineral abandonment, not royalty abandonment.

Depending on how that reservation is written you may not be entitled to a royalty payment.

You can own your mineral/oil and gas rights but not be entitled to receive a royalty payment.

I disagree that you should not be concerned. Again, depending on how the reservation is written the heirs of the original owner of the reservation could claim the royalty, from your property, for themselves. I understand the perspective, but disagree, that the royalty from your property might be too small for someone to fight over. It is possible that your property was once part of a larger tract and that reservation might cover the whole tract. So it might be worth somone's time and money to assert their claim.

Of course that presumes that there is anyone alive who might be entitled to the royalty and that they are aware they own the royalty. It might be worth knowing who the original owner of the reservation was, and if over time there are any recorded conveyances/transactions with regard to the reservation.

I would ask the person that told you about the 1920 deed for more info about that deed.Do they have a copy they could share with you? If not could they provide you with the names on the deed volume and page etc.. Then go to the court house look up the deed and read it yourself.

If you go through this process please post what you find here

Permalink Reply by Drb Bummy on October 11, 2014 at 3:50am

Barry D.  that is what I am waiting on.  we should be getting our title letter in the mail any day.  I will let you know.  are you a landowner or do you know someone who can assist further?  thanks.

Permalink Reply by Barry D on October 11, 2014 at 8:24am

Drb,

I am a landowner, I have also performed title work.

Do you have a copy of your deed?

Look to see if there are any reservations or exceptions

Permalink Reply by Drb Bummy on October 12, 2014 at 3:40am

I will pull it out and look and let you know.

Permalink Reply by James Foster on October 11, 2014 at 9:08am

If someone had reserved the mineral rights on a property then there is a process to go through to get those back.  Basically it is contact who has those rights if you can find them (in most cases it is the heirs) or know who they are.  If you can not contact them then you place an add in the paper for a certain length of time 30 days I believe in search of them.  You would need an attorney I think for this process.  If no one comes forward the mineral rights would be returned to you the landowner.  What you need to ask an attorney is does this same process apply to royalty reservation.  For 6.8 acres based on our experience with 14 acres it would be worth you time to spend roughly $200 to ask an attorney about this process and if it applies to your case.  Then whatever it costs to run the ad in the paper and additional attorney fees.  It would be nice to rejoin all your land and mineral rights and royalty rights back together for your heirs if you can at this time.  Worth a shot in my opinion ... especially if at some point you will have a well which in Belmont County seems highly likely.  You could wait until you know you are in a unit and would receive royalties in the near future.   The key here is are there heirs and can the be located.

Permalink Reply by Barry D on October 12, 2014 at 2:33am

My question is this: Is it a royalty reservation or a mineral/oi

Permalink Reply by Drb Bummy on October 12, 2014 at 3:43am

From what we are being told it is a 1/16 interest in royalties.  I am still waiting on the paperwork to confirm.

Permalink Reply by Jed Clampett on October 12, 2014 at 10:20am

only 1/16th, I have a royalty reservation on my place in PA, it is 1/3 of all gas and oil royalties, but it is on less than half of my acerage.

Permalink Reply by Barry D on October 19, 2014 at 3:59pm

Drb,

The real question is 1/16 of what ?

For example; 1/16 of 1/8 is small.

You would be sharing less than 1% of your royalty.

It's all in the wording of the exception/reservation.

Permalink Reply by Drb Bummy on October 12, 2014 at 3:42am

That is exactly what I thought. 

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