Title disputes over minerals and land

What the record can show

• The chain from the sovereign, the patent or grant, to today: each conveyance's grantor, grantee, interest and description.
• When the minerals were severed from the surface, and what each severance deed reserved or excepted.
• Conflicting conveyances: two deeds out of the same owner for the same interest, and the order they were recorded in.
• Gaps: an owner who died with no probate of record, a company that dissolved, a description that does not close.
• Liens, judgments, notices of pending suits and tax sales that touch the interest.

Documents that matter

• Patents and original survey files. In Texas these are kept by the General Land Office.
• Deeds, mineral and royalty deeds, partitions and correction instruments.
• Probate records, affidavits of heirship and court judgments.
• Leases, releases and assignments, which often recite who owned what at the time.
• Title opinions and abstracts already in the file, and appraisal district records for the surface.

How a landman's work helps

• A runsheet built from the instruments, not the index, so every entry can be checked against its image.
• Ownership flowcharts that show how each fraction moved from owner to owner.
• A plain report of what the record shows and where it stops, with a citation for every fact.
• A read of the other side's chain, noting where it skips an instrument or carries a fraction differently than the deed states it.

What to send

• The county and state, and the legal description or tract.
• Who claims the interest, by name, for a conflicts check.
• The deeds, title opinion or abstract you already have.
• The period the dispute turns on, if you know it.

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.