Real Property for Dummies...me included Part IV (Mineral Rights)

Ah! The confusion imposed on real life by people who get paid big bucks to write definitions of things that should be simple (haha)

:)

We are still sludging through the definition of real property and I want to focus this blog on the next line in our murky dictionary definition of Real Property. Here it is in context.

real property n. 1) all land, structures, firmly attached and integrated equipment (such as light fixtures or a well pump), anything growing on the land, and all "interests" in the property which may be the right to future ownership (remainder), right to occupy for a period of time (tenancy or life estate) the right to drill for oil, the right to get the property back (a reversion) if it is no longer used for its current purpose (such as use for a hospital, school or city hall), use of airspace (condominium) or an easement across another's property. Real property should be thought of as a group of rights like a bundle of sticks which can be divided. It is distinguished from the other type of property, personal property, which is made up of movable items. 2) one of the principal areas of law like contracts, negligence, probate, family law and criminal law.

The line I am pulling out is ironically the most simplistic. "the right to drill for oil", or essentially the minerals and valuable stuff under the land.

The best way to explain it is to imagine the earth...yep big blue ball. Then think of your "plot", or yard/lot lines. Now imagine a cone starting from the edges of your lot into the center of the earth. Now, there are easements, deeded rights and all kinds of stuff to interfere with that perfect cone, but the essential space concept remains your property. So, if you were to find a well of oil while planting your rose bushes, unless there was a recorded exception, it would belong to you.

More to follow...