Defiance County Mineral Deed (Survivorship Tenants) Form

When two people hold an Ohio mineral interest as survivorship tenants, the deed that conveys it works as intended only if both of them sign. This Ohio mineral deed (survivorship tenants) conveys the minerals beneath a described parcel of land, oil, gas, and coal among them, from two grantors who hold title for their joint lives, remainder to the survivor of them, with general warranty covenants under Sections 5302.05 and 5302.06 of the Ohio Revised Code. Both grantors sign, each has an acknowledgment certificate, and the deed recites that the conveyance comes from all of the survivorship tenants.

A conveyance from all of the survivorship tenants

Section 5302.20(C)(2) draws the line this deed is built on. A conveyance from all of the survivorship tenants to another person terminates the survivorship tenancy and vests title in the grantee. A conveyance from fewer than all of them vests only the grantor's own title, conditioned on that grantor surviving the tenants who did not join, and leaves the other tenants' interests untouched. This deed recites that the grantors hold the interest conveyed as survivorship tenants and that both join, carries two signature blocks each marked Survivorship Tenant, and follows each with its own certificate in the Section 147.55(A) short form, so the instrument that reaches the recorder is the first kind of conveyance and not the second.

General warranty covenants on a mineral estate

This deed carries Ohio's statutory warranty phrase: the grantors grant, with general warranty covenants, the mineral interest described in the deed. Under Section 5302.06 those words mean that the grantors are lawfully seized in fee simple of the granted premises, that the premises are free from all encumbrances, that the grantors have good right to sell and convey, and that they warrant and will defend the interest against the lawful claims and demands of all persons. On a severed mineral estate the encumbrances section does real work: the recorded oil and gas lease, any earlier reservation of part of the minerals, and any fraction the grantors keep are listed there and excepted from the covenants, while anything left off the list falls inside them.

Two grantors, two certificates, and dower between them

Section 1 recites that the grantors hold title as survivorship tenants and that both join in the deed; each grantor's name is followed by a marital status entry. Section 7 carries the fixed release of dower by each grantor. Where the two survivorship tenants are married to each other, each signature conveys that grantor's share and releases dower under Section 2103.02 in the other's, and Section 5301.071(A) provides that a recorded conveyance is not defective for want of a specific release where the spouse executed the instrument. Spouses who severed the minerals from a farm they hold by survivorship deed, and two unmarried co-owners who took a royalty interest from a parent by a deed in the Section 5302.17 form, present the two-survivorship-tenant pattern this deed recites. One survivorship tenant conveying alone, a surviving tenant who holds the whole title after the other's death, co-owners whose deed names no survivorship, three or more survivorship tenants, an entity, a trustee, and an attorney-in-fact each present a different pattern, and the form is not set up as any of them. Under Section 5302.20(C)(5), a divorce between two survivorship tenants holding the entire title turns it into a tenancy in common unless the judgment says otherwise.

The mineral parcel at the auditor

A severed mineral interest is listed and taxed apart from the surface under Section 5713.04, and the deed is written for that listing: the grantee's tax-mailing address and the prior instrument reference Section 319.20 requires sit in their statutory places, and Section 3 takes the mineral parcel number beside the legal description. The deed goes to the county auditor with the DTE 100 conveyance fee statement or the DTE 100EX exemption statement before the recorder sees it, and under Section 317.22 the recorder does not record a conveyance of minerals until the auditor's stamp and transfer endorsement appear. Execution follows Section 5301.01, a signature acknowledged before a notary public or another listed officer with no witnesses.

The package contains three documents: the fillable mineral deed, a completed example prepared for a Guernsey County fact pattern, and the guide that walks through each section, the Section 5302.20 survivorship rules, the dower release, and the auditor and recorder steps. The description and guide explain the form and the Ohio statutes behind it in general terms and are not legal advice.