Fourth Court of Appeals: Mother's Transfer of Land to Sons Included Mineral Interests, Even if Never Discussed

San Antonio Texas Real Estate Attorney Trey Wilson wrote:

In an opinion issued in mid-February 2015, San Antonio's Fourth Court of Appeals rejected an elderly mother's claims against her sons related to deeds she executed 12 years earlier. The deeds -- executed in 2000 -- granted to the sons, respectively, parcels of rural property, but made no mention of mineral interests. That is there was neither an express grant nor reservation of the minerals contained in the deeds. 

By the time she filed suit in 2012 (12 years after the deeds were executed), mom decided that she did not intend to convey the minerals -- or at least that she regretted doing so. Notably, the properties are located in the booming Eagle Ford shale play of south Texas by the time of suit, but no mineral activity had occurred on the property at the time that the deeds were granted.

Although the case largely turned on the timeliness of mom's suit for breach of fiduciary duty (i.e. whether the claim was barred by limitations), the Court correctly noted that the deeds' silence as to minerals resulted in all of the surface estates and the mineral interests owned by mom transferred to the sons under Texas real estate law. See Cockrell v. Tex. Gulf Sulphur Co., 157 Tex. 10,  299 S.W.2d 672, 675(1956) (“[I]t is fundamental that a warranty deed will pass all of the estate owned by the grantor at the time of the conveyance unless there are reservations or exceptions which reduce the estate conveyed.”). Thus, even though mom and her sons never discussed or considered the mineral interests at the time of the conveyance, they were conveyed under the deed because it did not expressly reserve mineral rights. 

The complete opinion, rendered in Mary Moczygemba v. Thomas and Harry Moczygemba, can be found here.