To the surprise of many, mineral rights and property rights are two separate things. Mineral rights can be sold or conveyed independently of property rights, so owning a piece of property does not always mean you also own the rights to the minerals under it. We’ll explain how to determine who owns your property's mineral rights.
What are Mineral Rights?
When discussing mineral rights, natural gas, oil, and coal are the most common minerals. Gold, silver, and other minerals are sometimes included but are less common.
The person holding mineral rights can extract and use or sell minerals under the surface of a piece of land under the terms of the conveyance, the document within which the mineral rights were bought or sold. A conveyance can include all minerals found under a property or just specific ones listed.
How Mineral Rights are Separated from a Piece of Property
Mineral rights are automatically considered part of the land in a property conveyance unless or until an owner or seller separates the ownership. An owner can separate the mineral rights from the land by conveying the land but retaining the mineral rights, conveying the mineral rights but retaining the land, or conveying the land to one person and the mineral rights to a different person.
A seller can only convey property they own, so each sale of the land after the minerals have been separated will only include the land. Land deeds made after the initial separation of the minerals will not include the fact that mineral rights are not included. This is why it can be tough to find out who owns the mineral rights to your property; the information isn’t on the deed.
Finding Who Owns Mineral Rights To Your Property
There are a few ways you can find out who owns the mineral rights to your property:
- If you live on or near the property, you can do the search yourself. The legal description of your party can make the search easier. If you don’t have that, you can take your property deed to the tax office, and they can help you find the legal description. The information should be held in the deed records room.
With this information, you can look for the deed covering your property where the seller or grantor conveyed the property to a buyer or grantee. Start with the most current deed and work backward until you find the conveyance separating the property and mineral rights, if such exists. - A title company can do the search for you.
- You can hire an attorney to find out who owns the mineral rights. This is the most costly option but may be necessary if your property is older and has been sold several times. In that case, the mineral rights may have been passed down in a will several times and involve multiple beneficiaries.
Do You Need to Discover Who Owns the Mineral Rights?
Discovering who owns mineral rights can be a costly and time-consuming process, so do you really need to do it? Probably not. Removing minerals is also a costly and time-consuming process, so if you live in an area where things like natural gas and oil drilling, coal mining, or mining other minerals isn’t common, it’s unlikely that the rightful owner would bother.
If you do live in such an area, it may still be unnecessary. Laws generally prohibit mineral rights owners from damaging or impeding the use of a home or other structures on the land when extracting minerals.
This material is for general information and educational purposes only. Information is based on data gathered from what we believe are reliable sources. It is not guaranteed as to accuracy, does not purport to be complete and is not intended to be used as a primary basis for investment decisions. It should also not be construed as advice meeting the particular investment needs of any investor.
Realized does not provide tax or legal advice. This material is not a substitute for seeking the advice of a qualified professional for your individual situation.
