Mineral deed questions
What is a reservation in a deed?
A reservation is what the seller kept. Many Texas families sold the land and kept some or all of the minerals, and that reservation passed to their heirs whether or not anyone wrote it down again.
How it reads
A reservation follows the description, often after "save and except": "there is reserved unto Grantor one-half of the minerals". The grantor keeps that share, and the grantee takes the rest.
Who owns it now
A reservation for the grantor belongs to the grantor and, after the grantor's death, to the grantor's heirs or the people named in a will. It does not go with the land when the land is sold again.
Finding a family reservation usually means searching the deed records for the family names as grantors, in the years when they sold land.
Term or forever
Most reservations are perpetual. Some last a term of years "and as long thereafter as" there is production, and end when that production stops after the term.
Reservation or exception
An exception is different: it leaves out of the deed something someone else already owned. Read both kinds the same way: who, what fraction, of what, for how long.
What to check on your deed
- Who the reservation is for: the grantor, or an earlier owner (an exception).
- Minerals or royalty, the fraction, and of what.
- Perpetual or for a term, and if a term, whether there was production when it ended.
- Who inherited the grantor's estate: probate, a will, or an affidavit of heirship.
See the reservations and exceptions on the sample deed
Related
We are landmen, not attorneys. This page explains how mineral deeds are usually read. What your deed means can turn on its exact words and on Texas law, and a title opinion comes from an attorney.
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