Definition
A run sheet is a chronological, row-by-row summary of every recorded document that affects title to a specific parcel of land. It is the core working document of a landman and the primary input an attorney uses to write a title opinion.
Each row represents a single recorded instrument (a deed, a probate filing, a lease, an assignment) and captures the key facts in a standardized set of columns. A complete run sheet tells the full ownership story from the original government patent to the present day, often shortened to patent-to-present.
A clean run sheet leads to a clean title opinion. An incomplete one sends the work back to the courthouse.
Who uses run sheets
Run sheets are built by landmen and title researchers, but the audience is wider. Title attorneys use them to render opinions. Mineral acquisition teams and land brokers use them to evaluate ownership before making offers. Oil and gas operators use them to confirm division orders and lease coverage. Mineral brokerages use them to verify fractional interests across dozens of owners on a single section.
What goes on a run sheet
Every recorded document that touches title to the parcel in question belongs on the run sheet:
- Warranty deeds and special warranty deeds, including any mineral reservations or exceptions.
- Mineral deeds conveying only the mineral estate (or a fractional interest in it).
- Quit claim deeds, often used between family members or to clear clouds on title.
- Probate documents: orders admitting wills, letters of administration, personal representative deeds, and decrees of distribution.
- Affidavits of heirship, used when formal probate was not filed.
- Oil and gas leases encumbering the mineral estate.
- Assignments of leases and overriding royalty interests.
- Releases and satisfactions clearing a lease, lien, or encumbrance from the record.
- Court orders and decrees: quiet title actions, partition decrees, divorce decrees dividing property, and tax sale certificates.
- Corrective instruments: correction deeds, scrivener's affidavits, and re-recordings.
Documents that do not affect title to the subject parcel (easements on adjacent land, utility agreements, unrelated liens) do not belong. Discipline about what to include keeps the run sheet useful rather than cluttered.
Column-by-column breakdown
Formats vary by shop, but a standard mineral run sheet includes these columns:
Recording information
- Reception number (or book and page): The county clerk's filing reference. In Colorado, most counties use reception numbers; older documents reference book and page. This is the unique identifier for pulling the original document.
- Recording date: When the county clerk stamped and recorded the instrument. Not the same as the execution date or the effective date. The recording date establishes priority in the public record.
Parties
- Grantor: The party conveying or encumbering the interest.
- Grantee: The party receiving the interest.
Instrument details
- Document type: Deed, mineral deed, lease, assignment, release, probate order, affidavit of heirship, etc.
- Execution date: When the instrument was signed. In some chains, there is a gap of years between execution and recording. The execution date matters for interpreting intent.
- Legal description: The PLSS description or lot-and-block description affected. Some documents affect only a portion of the parcel.
Interest information
- Interest conveyed: The fractional mineral interest transferred, stated in the deed's own language. "An undivided 1/2 interest" and "1/2 of grantor's interest" are very different things. See the section on fractional conveyances below.
- Reservations and exceptions: Any interest the grantor withholds. A surface deed that says "reserving unto grantor all oil, gas, and other minerals" severs the mineral estate entirely.
Notes
- Comments: Free-text for anything outside the structured columns. Examples: "Minerals severed at this point," "Probate not filed in this county, see Arapahoe County Case No. 2019PR1234," "Lease expired, primary term ended 2018, no production."
How to read each row
Read each row as a sentence: "On [recording date], [grantor] conveyed [interest] to [grantee] via [document type], recorded at [reception number], affecting [legal description]."
Top to bottom, oldest to newest, you are reading the chain of title. Every grantee in one row should appear as the grantor in a later row, unless they are a current owner. If a grantor appears but was never a grantee in a prior row, there is a gap that must be resolved.
Fractional conveyances and how to track them
Fractional interests are the most error-prone part of run sheet work. Two phrases that look similar carry very different meanings:
"An undivided 1/4 mineral interest" conveys exactly 25% of the total mineral estate, regardless of what the grantor owned.
"One-half of grantor's interest" conveys half of whatever the grantor holds. If the grantor owned 50%, this conveys 25%. If they owned 12.5%, this conveys 6.25%.
Many run sheet errors trace back to misreading "of grantor's interest" as a fixed fraction of the whole. Note the exact language from the deed. Do not interpret it into a net fraction at the run sheet stage; that calculation belongs in the ownership research or title opinion phase.
Types of run sheets
Mineral run sheet
Tracks only the mineral estate after severance: mineral deeds, assignments, probates, and leases. For acquisition teams, this is the one that matters. It answers: who owns the minerals and what is their fractional interest?
Surface run sheet
Tracks the surface estate after severance: warranty deeds, deeds of trust, and surface encumbrances. Relevant to real estate transactions but generally not the focus of mineral acquisition.
Combined run sheet (pre-severance)
Before severance, a single run sheet covers both estates. The patent conveyed everything to the original patentee, and every deed before the first reservation or mineral deed affects both. Once a severance occurs, the run sheet forks, and documents after the severance must be categorized by which estate they affect.
Common mistakes landmen make
Missing a mineral reservation in a surface deed
The most consequential run sheet error. A surface deed that says "excepting and reserving all oil, gas, and other minerals" severs the estate entirely, but the deed looks routine at first glance. Every deed must be read in full.
Confusing "of grantor's interest" with a fixed fraction
Changes the math entirely and compounds through every subsequent conveyance.
Skipping the legal description comparison
A document may reference the correct section and township but convey only the NW/4 when the target parcel is the NE/4. Compare every legal description against the target.
Not checking for out-of-county probate
Probate is filed where the owner lived, not where the minerals sit. Searching only the mineral county's records will miss the transfer entirely. See our guide on probate and mineral rights in Colorado.
Ignoring lease status
A recorded lease encumbers the mineral estate. If expired, note it as such. If still in effect, the lessee and terms affect any acquisition analysis.
How run sheets feed title opinions
The run sheet is the factual foundation. The title opinion is the legal interpretation.
An attorney reviewing a run sheet will verify the chain is complete, confirm each grantor had authority to convey, calculate net mineral interests through the fractional conveyances, identify clouds on title, and render an opinion on marketability. If a document is missing from the run sheet, the attorney cannot account for it.
How AI changes the workflow
Traditional run sheet building is manual. A landman searches the grantor-grantee index, pulls each document, reads it, and types a row into a spreadsheet. For a parcel with a long history, this takes days.
AI-powered platforms automate the extraction layer. Recorded documents are ingested, OCR'd, and parsed to identify grantors, grantees, legal descriptions, interest fractions, and document types. The landman's role shifts from data entry to review, confirming that each instrument was correctly parsed and making judgment calls on ambiguous language.
MineralScout generates run sheets as part of its patent-to-present title chain tracing, with direct links back to the source documents. The output is a starting point for professional review, not a replacement for it.