West Virginia mineral rights search: deeds, tax records and wells

Where West Virginia mineral rights are recorded

The county clerk keeps the deed books, will books and estate records for land in the county. Search the grantor-grantee index under each owner, then the will books for each owner who died. Old severed mineral rights here are often split among dozens of heirs, so one tract can lead to a long list of names.

Copy the farm name and acreage from your deed. The West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey's well records list a farm name for each well, which can tie an old well to your family's land.

West Virginia mineral rights tax records

West Virginia treats minerals as property under the ad valorem property tax. The State Tax Division appraises more than 1.3 million oil and gas royalty interests each year with an income approach, using production and royalty data that producers supply, and refers name, address and legal description problems to the county assessor (West Virginia Tax Division). Ask the county assessor or the sheriff's tax office whether any oil and gas account carries a family member's name; a tax bill is strong evidence of mineral rights. For a West Virginia mineral rights search, the tax account is often the fastest route to a current name and address.

Unpaid tax can cost you the mineral rights. When real estate taxes stay delinquent, the sheriff sells tax liens on the delinquent property, including undivided interests, and state law sets notice rules for property that holds only a mineral interest (West Virginia Code 11A-3-2). Tracts that aren't redeemed can be certified to the State Auditor, whose land sale records show whether a tract was sold, redeemed or deeded.

Is my land being drilled? DEP and WVGES tools

Filter the DEP map to permits issued in the last few years in your county, then open any near your land. A recent horizontal permit nearby is the clearest sign of new drilling in your area.

Nothing here names the mineral rights owner; the DEP map is for seeing whether a permit has landed near your land. DEP's Office of Oil and Gas regulates wells and permits, and the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey (WVGES) keeps a long well history.

• Oil and Gas Map Search: DEP's map of permit and well locations, filterable by county, operator, well status, well use, permit type (including horizontal 6A wells) and issue date, or searched by API number.
• Search Oil and Gas Database: DEP's well search and permit search.
• Pipeline: WVGES data on more than 154,000 wells, including location, farm name, operator, completions and monthly or annual production, generally since 1979. You search one well at a time by county and permit number.

Unclaimed royalties in West Virginia

The West Virginia State Treasurer's Office runs the state's unclaimed property program at WVUnclaimedProperty.gov. Search under every relative who may have held a fraction, including names you find in the will books.

West Virginia mineral rights search, step by step

Let the tax records speed up the deed work.

1. Copy the farm name, acreage, and deed book and page from your deed.
2. Ask the county assessor or sheriff for any oil and gas tax accounts in family names.
3. Search the county clerk's deed and will books for each owner in the chain.
4. Check the State Auditor's land sale records if any tax went unpaid.
5. Find nearby permits on DEP's Oil and Gas Map Search, then look up older wells in WVGES Pipeline.
6. Search WVUnclaimedProperty.gov under every family name.

When to call a landman or attorney

If the mineral rights passed through many heirs, or a tax lien sale appears in their history, a landman can trace the heirs and an oil and gas attorney can tell you whether the sale cut off your title. Hand over the tax bills and deed book references your West Virginia mineral rights search produced; they save the landman time.

See selling mineral rights in West Virginia for the counties with the most horizontal drilling, and West Virginia mineral rights value for how property tax and deductions figure into price. If selling makes sense, get offers from buyers who know your county.

West Virginia questions