A. After the date of death of a person who was an owner of a severed mineral interest in real estate, a person who claims such interest, immediately or remotely, through an affidavit of death and heirship recorded pursuant to Sections 82 and 83 of this title, shall acquire a valid and marketable title to such interest as against any person claiming adversely to such recorded affidavit on the conditions set forth in subsection C of this section.
B. Any purchaser for value acquiring a severed mineral interest in real estate from a person who claims such interest, immediately or remotely, through a recorded affidavit of death and heirship or a recital of death and heirship in a recorded title transaction, as that term is defined in Section 78 of Title 16 of the Oklahoma Statutes, shall acquire a valid and marketable title to such interest as against any person claiming adversely to such recorded affidavit or recital on the conditions set forth in subsection C of this section.
C. In order to establish marketable title pursuant to this section:
1. The affidavit or recital must state that the decedent died without a will, or if the decedent had a will, that the will was never probated in Oklahoma and a copy of the will is attached to the affidavit or recital, or if the will was probated that the severed mineral interest was omitted from the final decree of the decedent and a copy of the will and final decree is attached to the affidavit or recital;
2. The affidavit or recital must list the names of the decedent’s heirs and their relationship to the decedent;
3. The affidavit or recital must state that the maker is related to the decedent or otherwise has personal knowledge of the facts stated therein;
4. The affidavit or the title transaction that contains the recital must have been recorded for at least ten (10) years in the office of the county clerk in the county in which the real property is located; and
5. During the ten-year period following the recording of the affidavit or the title transaction that contains the recital, no instrument inconsistent with the heirship alleged in the affidavit or recital was filed in the office of the county clerk in the county in which the real property is located.
This section shall apply to affidavits recorded before November 1, 1999, as well as to those recorded thereafter, except that, with respect to those recorded before such date, the ten-year period specified above shall not expire until one (1) year after November 1, 1999. This section shall not apply as against any person in possession of the land, by occupancy or by occupancy of a tenant, at the time such purchaser acquires an interest in such land.
Added by Laws 1999, c. 84, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 1999. Amended by Laws 2010, c. 223, § 1, emerg. eff. May 10, 2010.