Sample. Made-up matter, tract, names and records.
A sample expert report outline
This is the shape of what counsel receives: a report on the land facts, every fact tied to its instrument, and opinions kept to land practice. The matter is a made-up royalty dispute. The tract is the same made-up tract as our sample land packet and sample findings list.
Cause No. SAMPLE-2026-CV-0142
Ruth Ann Pickard Doyle and Samuel L. Pickard, Plaintiffs, v. Sandhill Operating, LLC, Defendant. In the District Court of Caliche County, Texas.
Report of the landman designated by plaintiffs
- Prepared for
- Counsel for plaintiffs (made up)
- Prepared by
- Our Landmen LLC, landmen. Signed by the landman who did the record work.
- Lands
- NE/4 Sec 14, Blk 9, Red Draw Ry Co Svy, A-1187, Caliche County, Texas, 160.00 ac MOL ([T])
- Record cut-off
- 09/30/2026, 5:00 PM
- Report date
- 10/05/2026
1.
Assignment
What counsel asked, and what was not asked. The limits are written in at the start.
- 1.1Counsel for plaintiffs asked Our Landmen LLC to: (a) run the record title to the royalty created by DR 74/190 and to the 1/2 MI it burdens, from patent to the cut-off; (b) state what the county records show about successors to Lela Ruth Pickard; (c) compare how that royalty is carried in the documents defendant produced with the words of the instrument; and (d) give opinions on land practice where they bear on (a) to (c).
- 1.2Not asked, and not given: the legal meaning of DR 74/190, a title opinion, liability, or any amount owed. Those are for counsel and the court.
- 1.3Qualifications, a CV, compensation and any list the court's rules call for are in Exhibit A. They are not shown in this sample.
2.
Materials reviewed
Every source, with its range or Bates numbers, so the other side can find what we read.
Table scrolls sideways.
| Source | What | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Caliche County Clerk | Deed, Official Public and probate records: the 15 instruments on the runsheet of [T] (Exhibit B) | 05/02/1883 to 09/30/2026 |
| State oil and gas commission | Permit, completion and monthly production, Calloway 14 Unit 1H, API 42-999-30017 | 11/2025 to 07/2026 |
| Caliche County Appraisal District | Parcel R0118714: owner, acreage, sales history | 1999 to 09/30/2026 |
| Produced by defendant | Division order title opinion, Calloway 14 Unit, dtd 10/14/2025 | SANDHILL 000001 to 000088 |
| Produced by defendant | Division orders and pay deck, Calloway 14 Unit 1H | SANDHILL 000089 to 000141 |
| Produced by defendant | Suspense ledger, Calloway 14 Unit 1H | SANDHILL 000142 to 000160 |
| Pleadings | Plaintiffs' Original Petition; Defendant's Original Answer | On file |
| Depositions | None taken as of the report date | None |
3.
Method
How the record work was done, including what was not searched.
- 3.1Grantor and grantee indexes searched for every party in the chain of [T]. Each instrument read from its image; the runsheet (Exhibit B) built from the instruments, not from index lines.
- 3.2Probate and court indexes searched for Calloway, Strahan, Ferris and Pickard in Caliche County. Lela Ruth Pickard's county of last residence is not shown of record, so no probate search outside Caliche County is reported here.
- 3.3Commission records read for every well permitted in Sec 14.
- 3.4Each produced document compared, line by line, with the instruments it cites.
4.
Chain of title findings
Facts of record as of the cut-off, each with the instrument or document behind it. Exhibit B is the runsheet; Exhibit C draws the chain.
- 4.1The State of Texas patented all Sec 14 to Red Draw Railway Company. By WD DR 9/301 (1901) and WD DR 31/77 (1919), the NE/4 ([T]) was conveyed to Amos R. Calloway, surface and minerals.DR C/112; DR 9/301; DR 31/77
- 4.2Calloway conveyed an undiv. 1/2 MI in [T] to Wendell P. Strahan and kept the other 1/2 MI.DR 58/412
- 4.3Calloway conveyed to Lela Ruth Pickard a fixed 1/64 of production from [T], perpetual, without executive rights, out of his 1/2 MI. The deed does not use the words "of royalty". Its granting clause is quoted in full in Exhibit E.DR 74/190, dtd 02/09/1948, rec 02/20/1948
- 4.4Per the order probating his will, Calloway's surface and 1/2 MI were devised to Daniel A. Calloway 1/2 and Mae Calloway Ferris 1/2. The will does not mention the Pickard royalty.Cause No. 1962-P-018; PR 6/220
- 4.5No conveyance, probate, affidavit of heirship or other instrument out of Lela Ruth Pickard is of record in Caliche County through the cut-off. She is the last holder of record of the royalty.Searches in Section 3
- 4.6Daniel A. Calloway and Thornbush Royalty Partners, LP leased their 1/4 MI shares to Sandhill Operating, LLC in 2023. The Designation of Pooled Unit pools leased interests in all Sec 14 as the Calloway 14 Unit (640 ac). No ratification of the unit by Pickard or anyone claiming under her is of record. The Mae Calloway Ferris and Carol Strahan Wyatt 1/4 shares are unleased of record and not in the unit of record.OPR 1290/14; OPR 1290/22; OPR 1318/402
- 4.7The Calloway 14 Unit 1H was completed 11/2025. Its last reported production month of record is 07/2026.Commission records, API 42-999-30017
- 4.8The division order title opinion carries the Pickard interest as "1/64 of royalty". The pay deck carries it at a unit decimal of 0.00097656, and the suspense ledger holds it in suspense from first sales.SANDHILL 000041; 000097; 000142
5.
Opinions on land practice
Each opinion is limited to the land record and to how landmen do title work. None is an opinion on the law.
5.1 Carrying a royalty in the instrument's words
In land practice, a landman who carries a royalty deed onto a runsheet, an ownership report or a division order title chain records the interest in the words of the instrument and flags any question of construction for the examiner. Carrying the DR 74/190 interest as "1/64 of royalty", when the instrument does not use those words, without a flag, does not follow that practice.
Basis: Findings 4.3 and 4.8; Exhibits B, E and G.
5.2 A line that stops of record
When an interest stops of record with a named holder, land practice is to carry that person as the last holder of record, search probate where the land lies and where the holder last lived, and hold payments in suspense until curative or a court order identifies the payee. Holding the Pickard interest in suspense from first sales follows that practice.
Basis: Findings 4.5 and 4.8.
5.3 Size of the difference
Exhibit G shows how the pay-deck decimal is built: 1/64 x 1/4 royalty x 160/640 = 0.00097656. Carried as a fixed 1/64 of production, the same tract-to-unit arithmetic gives 1/64 x 160/640 = 0.00390625. Half of the royalty is borne by the Mae Calloway Ferris 1/4 MI, which is unleased of record and not in the unit of record (Finding 4.6). The arithmetic shows the size of the difference only. Whether and how the royalty, or any part of it, shares in unit production is for the court.
Basis: Findings 4.3, 4.6 and 4.8; Exhibit G.
6.
What this report does not address
The limits, written down so no one reads more into the opinions.
- The legal meaning of DR 74/190, or of any other instrument.
- Who the heirs of Lela Ruth Pickard are as a matter of law.
- Liability, damages, interest or any amount owed.
- Matters outside the county and commission records, other than the produced documents listed in Section 2.
7.
Exhibits
The record work behind the report travels with it.
- Ex. AQualifications, CV, compensation and any list the court's rules call for (not in this sample)
- Ex. BRunsheet of [T], patent to 09/30/2026, 15 instruments
- Ex. COwnership flowchart of the Calloway 1/2 MI and the Pickard royalty
- Ex. DMineral ownership report of [T] as of 09/30/2026
- Ex. ECopies of the instruments cited in Section 4, with the DR 74/190 granting clause quoted in full
- Ex. FCommission production summary, API 42-999-30017, 11/2025 to 07/2026
- Ex. GDecimal comparison: the pay deck against the instrument's words
- Ex. HMaterials reviewed, with Bates ranges
The report closes with a supplementation paragraph and the landman's signature and date.
The five pages
