Who Owns the Minerals Under Your Louisiana Land? A Landman Explains | RE: Real Estate Podcast
Who Owns the Minerals Under Your Louisiana Land? A Landman Explains | RE: Real Estate Podcast
Episode Number
102
Content Type
Interview
Primary Goal
Know whether you likely own the minerals under a Louisiana property and when mineral rights should factor into a purchase, sale or inheritance.
Keywords
louisiana mineral rights, mineral servitude, 10-year prescription, landman, surface rights vs mineral rights, oil and gas lease, royalty interest, working interest, overriding royalty, usufruct, inherited land louisiana, undivided interest, smackover lithium, south louisiana real estate, houma thibodaux
Summary
Lafayette landman Chris McGuirt joins Ben and Clint to untangle Louisiana mineral rights for buyers, sellers and heirs. He explains how landmen trace title back to the original patent, how the 10-year prescription rule works, and how royalty, working and override interests split the money. The conversation also covers inherited land, usufruct, subdivisions, unleased owners and the open questions around lithium in the Smackover.
Key Topics
• What a landman does and how mineral title is traced back to patent
• Louisiana's 10-year prescription rule and how production pauses the clock
• Royalty vs working interest vs overriding royalty, using the 25/75 split
• Inherited land: wills, intestate succession, usufruct and the sell or keep decision
• Trusts, LLCs, partitions and reserving minerals undivided
• Undivided interests with dozens of heirs and how escrow keeps a sale moving
• Why minerals rarely matter when buying a house in a subdivision
• Unleased mineral owners, lithium in the Smackover and the win-win negotiation
Title Options
• Louisiana Mineral Rights: What Buyers, Sellers & Heirs Need to Know | RE: Real Estate Podcast
• Surface vs Mineral Rights in South Louisiana: A Landman's View | RE: Real Estate Podcast
• Do You Own Your Minerals? Louisiana's 10-Year Rule Explained | RE: Real Estate Podcast
Sound Bites
“It's just a stopwatch that pauses the ownership of the minerals for a period of time.”
“There is absolutely no downside to reserving the minerals.”
“Nobody's gonna ask somebody to tear down their house so we can drill an oil and gas well.”
“There's no form of energy that doesn't inconvenience somebody at some level.”
“Their job is to make sure that it's a win-win for everybody.”
Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:30 Welcome and guest Chris McGuirt
01:53 What a landman does
02:51 Who owns the minerals? Tracing title to patent
03:43 Louisiana's 10-year prescription rule
04:45 Why oil companies avoid subdivisions
05:51 Royalty, working interest and overrides
10:14 South Louisiana's ultra-deep Highlander well
11:19 Inherited land and mineral paperwork
13:10 Usufruct: sell it or keep it?
14:43 Trusts, LLCs and partitions
16:05 The 10-year shortcut and title opinions
17:46 Undivided interests with dozens of heirs
21:00 Surface vs mineral title in real estate
22:00 How to find out if you own the minerals
25:05 Buying in a subdivision: do minerals matter?
27:21 Lithium and the Smackover formation
30:10 Could someone drill in my backyard?
32:03 Selling surface with undivided minerals
34:14 Unleased mineral owners
35:52 Tell the operator when ownership changes
37:25 Making every deal a win-win
41:01 Wrap-up
Resources
Louisiana State Land Office Records: doa.la.gov/doa/osl
Highlander Well, St. Martin Parish: dce.louisiana.gov
Smackover Lithium Research (LSU): lsu.edu
Enverus Courthouse (formerly Drillinginfo): enverus.com
TexasFile: texasfile.com
Louisiana Unclaimed Property: unclaimedproperty.la.gov
Show Links
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Hosts
Ben Harang
REALTOR® | Keller Williams Realty Bayou Partners
La. License #: 36589
Mobile: 985.859.2500 | Office: 985.262.4400
ben@benharang.com | benharang.com
Clint C. Galliano
REALTOR® | Keller Williams Realty Bayou Partners
La. License #: 995704723
Mobile: 985.647.4479 | SMS Hotline: (985) 200-5447
Office: 985.262.4400
clint.galliano@kw.com | SoLahomegroup.com
Creators and Guests
Host
Ben Harang
Ben Harang brings over 30 years of experience as a licensed agent and currently works with Keller Williams Realty Bayou Partners. Ben’s experience includes single family residential sales, large land sales, subdivision development, building new construction residential and commercial projects and selling REO/Foreclosed properties.
Host
Clint C. Galliano
Clint Galliano, who’s been an agent since 2020 & an investor since 2008, also with Keller Williams Realty Bayou Partners. Clint’s experience includes residential sales, residential rentals, property management, and various avenues of investing.
