Title work that turns the record into an answer.

A run sheet lists each instrument in the chain of title for a tract, including deeds, mineral deeds, leases, releases, assignments, probate records, affidavits and liens, in recording order with the volume and page or document number for each.

It is the working map an examining attorney or operator uses before a title opinion is written, and the fastest way to see where the record is complete and where it needs more work.

Title research follows ownership of the surface and mineral estates from a starting point, often the original patent from the sovereign or a prior title opinion, down to today. It accounts for severances, fractional conveyances, royalty interests carved out of the minerals, probate and heirship, and interests that were reserved decades ago and never mentioned again.

The result is a clear statement of who owns each interest and how their ownership was derived, with the instruments that support it.

Title opinions routinely raise requirements: an unprobated estate, an unreleased lien, a misdescribed tract, a missing link in the chain. Curative is the work of satisfying them.

That means locating the right people, preparing and obtaining the instruments that resolve each requirement, and getting them recorded, so the operator can pay, drill or close. Where a requirement calls for probate or a court proceeding, we gather the records and work alongside the client’s attorney.

When interests change hands, the price depends on what is actually being conveyed. Due diligence checks the represented ownership against the record: title to the interests, the status and terms of the leases, and the assignments that connect them.

Buyers learn what they are acquiring and sellers can support what they are marketing, within the deadlines the purchase agreement sets for raising title defects, and before closing.