Use cases
Every reason title gets pulled. Every probate that closes it.
Mineral title curative is triggered by a dozen different events — a well spud, a sale, a lease bonus, a lawsuit, an audit. Most of them eventually run into the same wall: a deceased grantor with no recorded transfer. We index that wall.
What "title curative" actually means
Curative is the work of clearing breaks in a mineral or surface chain of title — gaps where ownership transferred but the recorded paper trail doesn't close cleanly. The most common gap is a deceased owner whose minerals passed to heirs but where no probate, no affidavit of heirship, and no executor's deed was filed in the county of record.
Every transaction that touches minerals — drilling, leasing, buying, selling, lending, taxing — eventually has to confront that gap. The list below is what triggers the work.
Trigger scenarios
Every one of these is a real workflow that lands landmen and operators in the probate records. We've ordered them roughly by frequency.
DSTO
Drillsite Title Opinion (DSTO)
What: Required before spudding a well. The operator certifies surface and mineral ownership for every tract inside the proposed drilling unit.
Where probate fits: Probate gaps in the chain block the opinion. A deceased grantor with no AOH or executor's deed is a hard stop until cleared.
DOTO
Division Order Title Opinion (DOTO)
What: Sets up royalty disbursements after first production. Every fractional mineral owner has to be identified to the decimal.
Where probate fits: Heirship records are the most common DOTO blocker. Half-siblings, second marriages, and missed probates cause underpayment lawsuits.
STO
Supplemental Title Opinion (STO)
What: Updates a prior DSTO/DOTO when something changes — extended lateral, pooled unit revision, lease extension, new well bore.
Where probate fits: Births, deaths, and new probate filings between the original opinion and today must be folded in.
M&A
Mineral M&A Due Diligence
What: Buying a mineral package or leasehold portfolio. Buyer needs every tract title-confirmed before signing.
Where probate fits: Sellers rarely have clean curative on inherited interests. Probate research is the long pole on every minerals acquisition.
Divest
Divestitures & Asset Sales
What: Operator selling non-core acreage or shedding minerals for capital. Cleaner title = higher sale price.
Where probate fits: A divestiture data room with unresolved heirship gaps gets bid down 10–30% or fails diligence outright.
Bonus
Lease Bonus Verification
What: Before cutting a five- or six-figure lease bonus check, the lessee verifies the lessor actually owns the minerals.
Where probate fits: Paying the wrong heir is unrecoverable. Probate records are the only way to confirm post-decedent ownership.
Pool
Pooling & Unitization
What: Combining multiple tracts into a drilling unit. Every fractional owner across every tract has to ratify or be force-pooled.
Where probate fits: Identifying unknown heirs (the "missing 1.6%") is the most common reason a voluntary pool fails and goes to forced pooling.
Quiet
Quiet Title Actions
What: A lawsuit filed to resolve competing claims and clear marketable title.
Where probate fits: The petition has to name every potential heir. Missing one means the judgment doesn't bind them and title isn't actually quieted.
Tax
Estate Tax Valuation
What: IRS Form 706 or state inheritance filing for a decedent who held mineral interests.
Where probate fits: The estate has to enumerate every mineral tract, every owned fraction, and every prior probate to back into fair market value.
Loan
Bank Collateral & Mineral Loans
What: Reserve-based lending or asset-backed loans secured by producing minerals.
Where probate fits: The bank's borrowing-base engineer can't reserve-engineer interests they can't title-verify. Bad probate records cap the loan.
BLM
Federal Lease Applications (BLM)
What: Bidding on or maintaining federal mineral leases requires a chain-of-title certification to the BLM.
Where probate fits: BLM demands paper. Missing probate records on the private surface or co-tenant minerals stalls the lease.
1031
1031 Exchanges Into Minerals
What: Selling appreciated real property and rolling proceeds into mineral interests for tax deferral.
Where probate fits: The 45/180-day clock is unforgiving. Inbound buyer's due diligence stalls when the seller's heirship is unresolved.
FM
Force Majeure & Lease Extension Disputes
What: Operator claims a hold-by-production or shut-in extension; lessor or co-lessor pushes back.
Where probate fits: The operator has to serve every record owner and heir. Bad probate work invalidates the notice and the extension.
Anc.
Probate of an Out-of-State Decedent
What: Ancillary probate when a decedent owned minerals in a state they didn't live in.
Where probate fits: Out-of-state ancillary filings are the #1 missed source of fractional interests. They're where landmen find owners no one else has.
The pattern across all of them
Different triggers, same bottleneck. The curative landman is looking for one of four documents:
- Probate — the original case file at the county or district court
- Will filed for record — the testamentary instrument in the county clerk's deed records
- Affidavit of heirship — the sworn statement from a knowledgeable affiant
- Executor's or administrator's deed — the conveyance signed by the estate's representative
All four of these end up indexed at the county clerk. None of them are easy to find from out of state. We aggregate every county we cover so the curative landman doesn't drive, doesn't call, and doesn't pay per record.