How to Research Property Mineral Rights
- 1). View the title policy and warranty deed. If you are conducting research on a property you own, you should have a copy. If you do not have the papers, or you are researching a property that you do not own, proceed to the next step.
- 2). Go to your local county courthouse and complete a title search on the property in question to obtain the warranty deed and title policy.
- 3). Read the reservation section of the deed for notes about mineral rights reservations. Look for wording that says something along the lines of, "mineral rights transfers to the buyer" or "mineral rights retained by seller." If you see this wording, either the current surface rights owner holds the mineral rights, or the immediately previous owner does. If you do not see any wording along these lines proceed to next step.
- 4). Find the reservation section of the deed. In the reservations section, look for wording that says mineral rights will not be sold with property. If there is nothing there, look under the title policy schedule for language along the lines of "surface only..." If you see either of these statements, then most likely a previous owner reserved the minerals to the property.
- 5). Back-track through property deeds until you determine exactly who reserved the mineral rights.
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