With respect to probate requirements in situations where the decedent owned both surface and minerals, the reader is directed to: Title Examination Standards § 3.2 (Recorded affidavits and recitals cannot substitute for a conveyance, administration of an estate, or probate of a will except as provided in 16 O.S. § 67.); 12 O.S. § 93 (Fifteen year statute of limitations for the recovery of real property); and, 16 O.S. §§ 71-85 (Oklahoma Thirty Year Marketable Record Title Act).
estate transactions, enabling purchasers (and, by extension, royalty payers) to rely upon the status of title as reflected in the county records, decrees, and judgments of the courts. In the post- Cline era, Oklahoma operators face substantial PRSA interest liability when suspending royalties on severed mineral interests that are presumptively marketable. While 16 O.S. § 67 provides conclusive marketability after ten (10) years under a recorded affidavit of death and heirship, the immediate rebuttable presumption of the truthfulness of the facts stated in an affidavit under 16 O.S. §§ 82–83 and 58 O.S. § 393(D)—bolstered by Comment 4 to Oklahoma Title Standards § 3.2 (encouraging parties paying royalties to consider waiving the ten (10) year period) and the full liability protection of 58 O.S. § 394—supports paying royalties based on a compliant affidavit recorded for less than ten(10) years. Post Script: The author notes that the Simplification of Land Titles Act (§ 67) applies specifically to severed mineral interests. This mechanism is particularly beneficial for successors to small, severed mineral interests, where the time and expense of probating an estate would far exceed the value of the interest itself.
By: Lance Walker © 2026
Lance Walker is an Oklahoma City-based oil and gas attorney pri- marily focused on title examination, with a practice spanning Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and North Dakota. He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Oklahoma and began his career at a law firm in
Midland, Texas, where he drafted title opinions cover- ing the Permian Basin in West Texas and Southeast New Mexico. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in political science, earned with high honors, from the University of Florida. Lance is currently a Senior Associate at Ray, Feighny & Hartle, PLLC. He can be reached at (405) 474-5800 or lwalker@rfhfirm.com.
The Texas Dominion Statute (Art. 16.029, Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, Title 2, Subtitle B, Chapter 16) A True Path to the Establishment of a Title By Adverse Possession? Factual Genesis of This Article
The author encountered the following factual situation in an abstract of title he was examining:
ranching/farming business.
• B completely fenced Blackacre as well as paid one hundred percent (100%) of all real property taxes before they became delinquent for over thirty (30) years. • B’s heirs/devisees (D&E) continued paying one hundred percent (100%) of all real property taxes for another twenty (20) years
• A was the fee simple owner of a 100 acre tract (Blackacre).
• A died testate and left two devisees, B and C, each owning an undivided 50% fee simple interest in Blackacre. C moved away from the area and left B to utilize Blackacre in its
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N at i onal A ssociation of D i v i s i on O rder A nalys t s
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