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Surface rights encompass what we traditionally think of as the dirt and anything built on top of that dirt, such as a house, barn, or garage. Mineral rights are the rights to the natural resources (such as oil or natural gas) below the dirt, sometimes as far down as 20,000 feet below the surface.
Texas real property laws are unique in that the surface and mineral rights completely separate. They are two separate estates. In Texas, you can buy, sell, mortgage, or assign minerals just the same as you would with a home or a piece of land.
Sometimes, differing depths of mineral rights can be leased separately. For example, the right to extract resources 10,000 feet below the surface can be leased to one company, and the rights to anything below 10,000 feet can be leased to another.
Yes, that is possible. Often, what happens is that surface rights are sold by a family, but the mineral rights are reserved. If you own both surface and mineral rights to a piece of land and sell it, unless you explicitly reserve mineral rights for yourself in the deed, those mineral rights will convey to the property’s new owner.
In other cases, a large piece of land may be inherited by multiple people. For example, four adult children may inherit 10,000 acres. They may decide that each of them gets a separate 2,500 acres of surface land each, but they decide to share the mineral rights beneath all 10,000 acres as an undivided interest.
In very lucrative areas of Texas, when you buy a plot of land, it may not come with any mineral rights, as these are reserved by other individuals, families, or companies. If you want to acquire mineral rights along with surface rights, you may have to pay a significantly higher premium.
Attorney Seth Bell is an experienced, respected mineral rights attorney serving Texas. Since 1997, he’s helped clients just like you understand the difference between surface and mineral rights and make profitable, thoughtful land decisions in Texas.
Have questions, or in need of practical legal guidance? Reach out to the Law Office Of Seth K. Bell for an initial consultation today.
Property deeds and related documents from local courthouses should clarify whether you own surface rights, mineral rights, or both. In many cases, you may not realize you have mineral rights until a landman in Texas contacts you after a loved one has passed away. This is quite common, and I get phone calls from people all over the country who didn’t even realize that someone in their family had invested in mineral rights in Texas.
If you’ve recently learned that you’ve inherited mineral rights, please contact my law office so that I can assist with the transfer process and help you start profiting from them.
Because mineral and surface rights are treated as two separate estates in Texas, many property owners own only the surface-level dirt and structures, not the underlying stone and natural resources. There are many surface landowners who are unhappy about not owning mineral rights, especially in areas with high oil or gas production, as they have no control over extraction.
Mineral rights are dominant over surface rights, meaning the owner of those mineral rights can have a company come onto a plot of land to drill, and there’s nothing the surface owner can do to stop that process.
However, this doesn’t mean the company can drill for free. If a surface damage agreement is in place, the surface rights owner must still be compensated for any damages caused by the drilling, including soil damage, inroads, and ponds.
In fact, surface damage agreements can be a great way to still profit from mineral extraction, even if you don’t own the mineral rights beneath your plot. For help establishing such an agreement or determining your rights to compensation as a surface owner, please come and speak with me.
For more information on mineral rights vs surface rights in Texas, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (210) 824-4001 today.
Attorney Seth Bell is an experienced, respected mineral rights attorney serving Texas. Since 1997, he’s helped clients just like you understand the difference between surface and mineral rights and make profitable, thoughtful land decisions in Texas.
Have questions, or in need of practical legal guidance? Reach out to the Law Office Of Seth K. Bell for an initial consultation today.