Mineral deed questions
What does an undivided interest mean?
An undivided interest is a share of the whole tract, not a piece of it. An undivided one-half of 80 acres is half of every acre, not the north 40.
A share of every acre
Most mineral deeds convey an undivided fraction. Each owner owns that fraction of the minerals under every part of the tract, together with the other owners.
Net mineral acres
Landmen count undivided interests in net mineral acres: the fraction times the acres. One-half of the minerals in 80 acres is 40 net mineral acres.
Net mineral acres are what a lease bonus and a division order decimal are usually figured from, so it helps to work yours out from the deeds.
A fraction of what
"An undivided one-half interest" and "an undivided one-half of Grantor's interest" are different. If the grantor owned one-half, the first wording conveys one-half of the whole and the second conveys one-quarter.
What to check on your deed
- Write down the fraction and what it is a fraction of: the whole tract or the grantor's interest.
- Multiply by the acres in the legal description to get net mineral acres.
- Add up the owners you know of. The shares in a tract should come to the whole.
- If they come to more than the whole, a deed in the chain conveyed or reserved more than its grantor owned.
See the interest conveyed 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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Tell us what your deed says and what you want to know. We can read the deed and explain what it conveys, or pull the chain of title in the county records and show how the interest reached you. We read every request and can reply by email.
For a lease, a division order or a check you cannot read, Landman Help works for owners. For a full runsheet or title packet, Landman Services runs the county records.