The category is “terms that confuse us” for one hundred dollars. Without resorting to your favorite legal dictionary or lawyer, explain the difference between a reservation and an exception in a Texas warranty deed. Stumped? Valence Operating v. Davidson answers the question.
The deeds
1956: Myrtle and grandson Jackie Ray Briggs conveyed to Edmond and Mildred
We begin with a document-drafting tip: When reserving an interest in minerals, before cutting and pasting from your old document that would be yellowed and dusty if it remained in its original papyrus format, lawyers and non-lawyers alike should consider Devon Energy Prod. Co. v. Enplat II, LLC. The Court was
In Smart v. 3039 RNC Holdings LLC, the court reminds us that it will harmonize all parts of a contract, even one that “is not a model of clarity”, to reach the correct result.
RNC owned the surface and 50% of the mineral estate in a 45.6 acre tract in Karnes County. RNC agreed
Head-scratchers: (1) Is a mineral reservation a fraction of royalty, or a fractional royalty? (2) Is there a difference? (3) Does it matter?
Answers: (1) It depends on how you phrase it. (2) Yes. (3) Yes, if you care about being paid on production, or you are the scrivener of deeds and assignments and want
“If you want a successful gathering of long-lost kinfolks, just manage to find oil on the old homestead. They will come out from under logs, down trees, from out of the blue and down every road and byway, but they’ll get there — even some nobody ever suspected were kinfolks.”
Judge R. T.Brown, who presided
Question: Can a landowner enforce a right of first refusal bargained for by his predecessor? Answer: It depends. (Note to self: Why do you always say that in your posts? Because, as Texas Rangers’ manager Ron Washington might say, “That’s the way the law go”.) The answer in MPH Production Co. v. Smith et
It ‘s tough to find an interesting picture of a title dispute, so here’s a musical interlude. You never can tell how the court will construe a complicated property deed.
Can the seller of land retain half of the minerals he owns in the property if he doesn’t actually reserve anything? Yes, he can, says
The contract of sale for the property mentions that you, the seller, intend to reserve the hard minerals, but not the oil and gas beneath the property. The deed to close the transaction contains no reservation of anything.
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