Oklahoma § 16-67 - Claim and purchase of severed mineral interest through

§ 16-67. Claim and purchase of severed mineral interest through

recorded affidavit of death and heirship.

A. After the date of death of a person who was an owner of a

severed mineral interest in real estate, a person who claims such

interest, immediately or remotely, through an affidavit of death and

heirship recorded pursuant to Sections 82 and 83 of this title,

shall acquire a valid and marketable title to such interest as

against any person claiming adversely to such recorded affidavit on

the conditions set forth in subsection C of this section.

B. Any purchaser for value acquiring a severed mineral interest

in real estate from a person who claims such interest, immediately

or remotely, through a recorded affidavit of death and heirship or a

recital of death and heirship in a recorded title transaction, as

that term is defined in Section 78 of Title 16 of the Oklahoma

Statutes, shall acquire a valid and marketable title to such

interest as against any person claiming adversely to such recorded

affidavit or recital on the conditions set forth in subsection C of

this section.

C. In order to establish marketable title pursuant to this

section:

1. The affidavit or recital must state that the decedent died

without a will, or if the decedent had a will, that the will was

never probated in Oklahoma and a copy of the will is attached to the

affidavit or recital, or if the will was probated that the severed

mineral interest was omitted from the final decree of the decedent

and a copy of the will and final decree is attached to the affidavit

or recital;

2. The affidavit or recital must list the names of the

decedent’s heirs and their relationship to the decedent;

3. The affidavit or recital must state that the maker is

related to the decedent or otherwise has personal knowledge of the

facts stated therein;

4. The affidavit or the title transaction that contains the

recital must have been recorded for at least ten (10) years in the

office of the county clerk in the county in which the real property

is located; and

5. During the ten-year period following the recording of the

affidavit or the title transaction that contains the recital, no

instrument inconsistent with the heirship alleged in the affidavit

or recital was filed in the office of the county clerk in the county

in which the real property is located.

This section shall apply to affidavits recorded before November

1, 1999, as well as to those recorded thereafter, except that, with

respect to those recorded before such date, the ten-year period

specified above shall not expire until one (1) year after November

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 16. Conveyances

1, 1999. This section shall not apply as against any person in

possession of the land, by occupancy or by occupancy of a tenant, at

the time such purchaser acquires an interest in such land.

Added by Laws 1999, c. 84, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 1999. Amended by Laws

2010, c. 223, § 1, emerg. eff. May 10, 2010.