Who keeps what
- Clerk of court: conveyance records (sales, leases, servitudes, judgments of possession) and mortgage records.
- Parish assessor: surface parcels and owners.
- The state's conservation office: well permits, production and unit orders with survey plats, online through SONRIS.
Successions
When an owner dies, the succession usually ends in a judgment of possession that names who takes the property. Recorded in the parish where the land lies, it is the link the chain needs.
Mineral servitudes
Minerals separated from the land in Louisiana are usually held as a mineral servitude, which can end through ten years of nonuse, with exceptions. The record work behind a servitude question is a history of drilling and production on the land, or on a unit that includes it, with dates.
How instruments are cited
By conveyance book and page (COB 123, Pg. 45) or by instrument or entry number, parish by parish.
We are landmen, not attorneys. This page describes the land record in general terms. It is not legal advice, and every matter turns on its own instruments.