Previous Owner Sold Mineral Rights After Foreclosure Proceedings and Bankruptcy Start

[james.thompson]

My question involves real estate located in the State of: Ohio


according to Ohio revised code: 2703.26 Lis pendens in general.
When a complaint is filed, the action is pending so as to charge a third person with notice of its pendency. While pending, no interest can be acquired by third persons in the subject of the action, as against the plaintiff’s title.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953; 2008 HB138 09-11-2008

previous owner sold the mineral rights to her sister next door after foreclosure proceedings already started and after so started to file bankruptcy (which was not listed as an asset in the bankruptcy) from my understanding of the ohio code, she had no right to sell and this deed technically should be invalid. looking for some insight on this issue. Im having trouble finding someone experienced enough with mineral rights

[jk]

what are you trying to accomplish here?

Did the owner have the approval of the BK trustee to sell the rights?

[james.thompson]

I just purchased a house and title company told me the mineral rights transfer upon sale. after closing I found out the mineral rights were sold to her sister. and her sister is getting royalties on the property. I would like to get the rights back, since it was not a legal transaction.

mineral rights where never listed on the BK so they had no clue of it.

[jk]

I just purchased a house and title company told me the mineral rights transfer upon sale.

then file a claim with your title insurance company. If they told you the mineral rights transfer, they would not have listed them as being excluded from the policy.

and we have not determined if the transaction wasn't legal or not. Mineral rights do not have to be listed independently on the BK. Unless separated from the other rights of ownership, they are inherent with the ownership rights of the property. As such, if the property was listed, so were the rights. Just as any property in a BK, it can be sold but it must be with the approval of the trustee (since that is who technically owns everything while in BK), so can any part of a property (the mineral rights).

[james.thompson]

title company had it excluded on the closing documents that me and my realitor missed at closing. so filing a claim would get me no where.

according the the ohio code i listed, even the foreclosure suit against the previous owner, caused for an illegal sale of the mineral rights.... disregard if the bankruptcy trustees approved it or not. since I am unable to find an experienced attorney in my area that knows anything about mineral rights, im and handling it myself and just wondering if anyone has any experience with this

[jk]

according the the ohio code i listed, even the foreclosure suit against the previous owner, caused for an illegal sale of the mineral rights.... s

you mean this one:

2703.26 Lis pendens in general.
When a complaint is filed, the action is pending so as to charge a third person with notice of its pendency. While pending, no interest can be acquired by third persons in the subject of the action, as against the plaintiff’s title.

Um, who are you considering the plaintiff in the situation?



You also are apparently misunderstanding that law. In that statute, the plaintiff is whomever has filed a complaint against the owner of the property. It is that person whose claim to an interest in the title that cannot be abridged. So, who are you considering to be the plaintiff in the BK? Whose rights of claim were abridged by the transfer of the mineral rights?

If you want to go that route, that would be the creditors but hey, guess what; that is exactly what the BK is charged with addressing. Slicing up the petitioners assets and distributing them as the trustee determines proper. They address the claims against the petitioner and settle them and as such, releasing the petitioners right of claim against the estate.

the law states that a 3rd party cannot acquire an interest against the plaintiffs claim. The trustee has settled and released their claim within the BK so that law has not been breached.


and if the transfer was listed in your documents, it was you or your rep who erred here. The only think I can suggest is you review your sales contract to see if the mineral rights were included in the contract. If they were, you can argue the sale (of the rights separately) was invalid because you had already contracted to purchase those rights and the seller did not have a legal right to sell them to another party.