In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, a split estate is an estate where the property rights to the surface and the underground are split between two parties. It is the result of

Homestead Act The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a homestead. In all, more than of public land, or nearly 10 percent of th ...

s such as the

Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 18, 1971, constituting at the time the largest land claims settlement in United States history. ANCSA was intended to resolve long-standing i ...

(1971) or the

Stock-Raising Homestead Act The Stock-Raising Homestead Act of 1916 provided settlers of public land—a full section or its equivalent—for ranching purposes. Unlike the Homestead Act of 1862 or the Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909, land homesteaded under the 1916 ...

(1916). A split estate is similar to the

Broad Form Deed As a legal document, the broad form deed severs a property into surface and mineral rights. This allows other individuals or organizations other than the land owners to purchase rights to resources below the surface. These parties also receive use ...

, a type of legal document created in the United States in the early 1900s. These documents were used to sever property into mineral and surface rights, just like a split estate today. In the 49 United States practicing British

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...

(the 50th,

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, derived its law from French and Napoleonic Code), a split estate is created when the original

fee simple In English law, a fee simple or fee simple absolute is an estate in land, a form of freehold ownership. A "fee" is a vested, inheritable, present possessory interest in land. A "fee simple" is real property held without limit of time (i.e., perm ...

owner sells or otherwise loses ownership of the subsurface, often called the

mineral estate In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2 ...

. Executor rights transfer in whole, unless otherwise reserved, and administration of the estate carries the same rights, liabilities, and privileges the surface estate does. In the Louisiana, severability of estate is legal and common, however a particular law practice similar to

easements in English law Easements in English law are certain rights in English land law that a person has over another's land. Rights recognised as easements range from very widespread forms of rights of way, most rights to use service conduits such as telecommunication ...

allows the reversion of the mineral estate to the current surface owner if the mineral estate is not actively engaged in productive activity. This is similar to

squatter's rights Adverse possession, sometimes colloquially described as "squatter's rights", is a legal principle in the Anglo-American common law under which a person who does not have legal title to a piece of property—usually land ( real property)—may ...

in other states; however other states do not allow this for the mineral property. Who owns the right to exploit the underground is important in case it contains

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. ( ...

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

, or

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

. It is currently the object of controversies because some landowners are concerned about the nuisance and environmental impact. Monday, 15 February 2021

Notes

Property law in the United States Eminent domain {{US-law-stub The Flyover Nation: Energy's Role in a Troubled Heartland