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 La. R.S. 31:27 (Mineral Servitude Prescription): legis.la.gov 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 Website: rerealestatepodcast.com YouTube: youtube.com/@REREALESTATEPODCAST Facebook: facebook.com/rerealestatepodcast Instagram: instagram.com/rerealestatepodcast TikTok: tiktok.com/@rerealestatepodcast Find every episode at rerealestatepodcast.com – subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. 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 Produced by: Clint Galliano | Music by: Wiggins Studios Click here to view the episode transcript. Click here to watch a video of this episode.
