State law reference
Abandoned Mineral Rights in Alabama
What happens to abandoned mineral rights in Alabama? No Alabama statute was found that ends or transfers a severed mineral interest for nonuse, and no marketable record title act was found. Nonproducing oil, gas and mineral interests held separately from the surface are exempt from ad valorem tax (Ala. Code 40-20-35; interests created before October 1957 only on application), and a tax sale of the surface does not affect an exempt interest.
No statute found Researched and checked by American Mineral Registry by searching the text it could read, which turned up no statute on this point; review completed October 1, 2026. Reference research, not legal advice.
- Rule type
- No such statute found
- Period
- None
- Ends without a surface owner step
- Not applicable
- Preservation filing
- Not applicable
- Forced pooling statute
- Statute found
Official text cited - Surface damages statute
- No statute found
- Deceased or unlocated owner
- Partly checked
How the rule works
No dormant mineral statute identified. No Alabama statute was found that ends or transfers a severed mineral interest for nonuse, and no marketable record title act was found. Nonproducing oil, gas and mineral interests held separately from the surface are exempt from ad valorem tax (Ala. Code 40-20-35; interests created before October 1957 only on application), and a tax sale of the surface does not affect an exempt interest.
Scope
- Interests covered
- Not applicable; no mechanism identified.
- Minerals covered
- Not applicable; no mechanism identified.
- Enactment and amendments
- No dormancy statute identified. Tax exemption in 40-20-35 from Acts 1957, No. 261, amended Acts 1961, No. 864.
- What AMR searched
- Quoted phrase full text searches of the entire Code of Alabama 1975 on the Legislature's ALISON site (alison.legislature.state.al.us, via its public GraphQL endpoint): 'dormant mineral' (1 hit, 35-19-9(d), an environmental covenant clause), 'severed mineral' (0), 'abandoned mineral' (0), 'marketable record title' (0), 'rule of repose' (0), 'statement of claim' and 'nonuse' (no mineral hits), 'mineral interest', 'mineral estate', 'mineral rights', 'mineral owner', 'severed from the surface', 'separately and apart from the surface' (no lapse, abandonment or unknown owner provision among the hits). Read in full: 40-20-35 and 40-20-12 (ad valorem exemptions for nonproducing severed and producing interests), 6-5-200 (adverse possession requires 10 years of recorded color of title, tax listing, or descent), 35-4-69 (recorded affidavits about possession of surface or mineral rights are notice). Title 9, chapter 17 (Oil and Gas) article list checked.
What “none found” means. AMR searched the official code for a dormant mineral, abandonment, lapse or forfeiture statute and found none. That does not mean a mineral interest can never be lost: deeds, title defects, tax sales, adverse possession and other rules can still affect ownership, and they are outside this review.
Dates and what they mean
There is no statutory nonuse period to calculate for this jurisdiction under the rules AMR reviewed.
No statutory lapse was identified, so there is no lapse or deadline date for Alabama.
Deceased or unlocated owner
Partly checked What the law of Alabama says when the owner of record has died, is unknown, or cannot be found. It sets out the questions; it does not decide who owns an interest, whether a notice was valid, or whether an interest ended.
Why only partly checked. Quiet title against unknown owners (Ala. Code 35-6-44) and Oil and Gas Board escrow rules were not reviewed.
Alabama has no dormant mineral act, so no nonuse clock runs against a deceased, unknown or unlocated mineral owner. Full text searches of the official code found no receivership, trustee or escrow procedure for unknown or unlocated mineral owners. The provisions found deal only with money: oil and gas proceeds are tendered to the owner's agent or last known address, proceeds held for unmarketable title are paid later with interest to the owners finally determined, and unpaid mineral proceeds fall under the unclaimed property law.
- Owner of record has died
- Not addressed in the provisions read, except that a purchaser's notice of the monthly payment option constitutes notice to the payee's heirs, successors, representatives and assigns (9-17-33(c)).
- Current owner unknown
- Not addressed in the provisions read. Proceeds held because title is not marketable are paid later to the parties finally determined to be the legal owners (9-17-33(c)).
- Owner known but cannot be found
- Not addressed in the provisions read, beyond tender at the last known address (9-17-33(c)) and the unclaimed property law for unpaid mineral proceeds (35-12-71, 35-12-72).
How the nonuse rule treats these owners Not addressed in the provisions read
No nonuse or dormancy mechanism exists in the code searched (the only hit for dormant mineral is an environmental covenant section), so there is none to apply to these owners.
Heirs, devisees and successors Statute
Only the monthly payment option notice in 9-17-33(c) mentions heirs, successors, representatives and assigns.
Statute
The purchaser's notice of the option to be paid monthly constitutes notice to all heirs, successors, representatives and assigns of the person entitled to the proceeds. Ala. Code 9-17-33(c)
“The notice to the person entitled to the proceeds shall also provide directions for requesting monthly payment and shall constitute notice to all heirs, successors, representatives, and assigns of the person entitled to the proceeds.”
Scope: Only the notice of the monthly payment option under 9-17-33(c); it does not make notice valid for any other purpose.
Search required to find the owner Not addressed in the provisions read
No provision read requires a search for unknown or unlocated mineral owners.
Who gets notice, and how Statute
Proceeds are tendered to the owner's designated agent or last known address.
Statute
Proceeds from oil or gas production are paid by tender to the persons entitled, through their designated agents or at their last known address. Ala. Code 9-17-33(c)
“The payment shall be made to persons legally entitled thereto by the first purchasers of the production by tender to the person’s designated agents or at their last known address.”
Scope: Payment of oil and gas proceeds by first purchasers, or operators substituted for them. Not a title or nonuse provision.
Notice by publication Not addressed in the provisions read
No mineral specific publication provision was found.
How the owner responds or preserves Not addressed in the provisions read
No preservation or response procedure applies, because there is no nonuse mechanism.
Court, receivership or trust for missing owners Statute
No court or agency mechanism for unknown mineral owners was found. Proceeds held for unmarketable title are paid later with interest, and unpaid mineral proceeds are covered by the unclaimed property law.
Statute
Where proceeds cannot be paid on time because title is not marketable, the purchaser later pays the parties finally determined to be the legal owners the full amount plus interest. Ala. Code 9-17-33(c)
“In those instances where the proceeds derived from oil or gas produced and sold after May 4, 1982, cannot be paid within the time allowed by this section because the title thereto is not marketable, the purchasers of the production shall remit to the parties ultimately determined to be the legal owners of the production,”
Scope: Proceeds held for unmarketable title; the statute does not say who determines ownership or that funds go to a court or agency.
Mineral proceeds, including bonuses, royalties and shut in royalties, are a defined category of property under Alabama's unclaimed property law. Ala. Code 35-12-71(12)
“MINERAL PROCEEDS. Amounts payable for the extraction, production, or sale of minerals, or, upon the abandonment of those payments, all payments that become payable thereafter.”
Scope: Unclaimed property article as amended by Act 2026-285. Covers payments, not title to the mineral interest.
When an interest is presumed abandoned, any other property right accrued or accruing to the owner from it is also presumed abandoned. Ala. Code 35-12-72(b)
“At the time that an interest is presumed abandoned under subsection (a), any other property right accrued or accruing to the owner as a result of the interest, and not previously presumed abandoned, is also presumed abandoned.”
Scope: Unclaimed property. Subsection (a) has no item naming mineral proceeds; its catch all item (19) uses three years. Which item governs mineral proceeds was not confirmed.
What a title review must establish
- Are proceeds for the interest being held as unmarketable title under 9-17-33(c), and who has been determined to be the legal owner?
- Have unpaid mineral proceeds been reported to the State Treasurer as unclaimed property?
- If the record owner has died, how are heirs established, given that no mineral specific procedure was found? General probate and quiet title were not reviewed.
Dates. Proceeds: payment commencing no later than six months after the date of the first sale and thereafter no later than 60 days after the end of the calendar month of sale (9-17-33(c)). Unclaimed property: 35-12-72(a)(19), all other property, three years after the owner's right to demand the property or after the obligation to pay or distribute arises, whichever first occurs; whether mineral proceeds fall under item (19) was not confirmed. Nothing computed. The rule finder does not calculate this period.
What AMR searched. Official Code of Alabama on ALISON, read through its public GraphQL endpoint on October 6, 2026. Full text searches: "cannot be located" (14 hits), "whereabouts" (28), "unknown owner" (2), "unknown owners" (2), "unknown heirs" (1, a probate section), "dormant mineral" (1), "mineral proceeds" (3), "oil and gas lease" (2), and paired terms minerals and unknown, royalties and unknown, mineral and receiver, oil and absent; no hit set out a mineral specific unknown owner procedure. Sections read in full: 9-17-13, 9-17-33, 35-12-71, 35-12-72. Not reviewed: 35-6-44 (proceedings against unknown persons in quiet title), Oil and Gas Board rules on integration escrow, probate, and all case law (case search quota exhausted). A point marked not addressed means only that the provisions read do not address it; probate, quiet title and other general procedures may still apply and were not reviewed.
Not settled by this review.
Whether Alabama Oil and Gas Board rules or integration orders require escrow of proceeds for unlocated owners.
Which item of 35-12-72(a) sets the abandonment period for mineral proceeds after Act 2026-285.
Whether Ala. Code 35-6-44 or other general quiet title provisions are used against unknown mineral owners in practice; not reviewed.
Checked October 6, 2026. Also in the dormant mineral rule finder.
Forced pooling
Official text cited Yes. Under Ala. Code 9-17-13(a) and (c), where owners in a drilling or production unit have not agreed to pool, the State Oil and Gas Board shall require integration after notice and hearing. Each integrated tract keeps a 3/16 royalty share (or the actual royalty if less) free of costs, and a 150 percent risk compensation fee may be charged to nonconsenting owners who received actual notice, but not to owners the operator could not locate after diligent search.
Surface damages
No statute found No Alabama statute was found that requires oil and gas operators to notify or compensate surface owners. The Code's surface owner provisions found concern coal surface mining (9-16-84, 9-16-85, 9-16-91). Drilling notice under 9-17-24 runs to the State Oil and Gas Supervisor, not the surface owner.
Searched: Quoted phrase full text searches of the entire Code of Alabama 1975 on ALISON: 'surface owner' (3 hits: 9-16-84, 9-16-85, 9-16-91, all coal surface mining), 'owner of the surface' (4 hits: coal reclamation, tax enumeration 40-11-1, gas storage 9-17-153), 'surface damage' (0), 'surface damages' (0), 'surface use' (0), 'surface estate' (2 hits, coal mining and carbon dioxide storage). Title 9, chapter 17 (Oil and Gas) article list has no surface damage article. Read 9-17-24 (drilling notice to the State Oil and Gas Supervisor). Board rules and common law were not reviewed.
Taxes
Broad personal income tax: yes. Nonresidents owe Alabama tax on income from property owned in Alabama, residents are taxed on income from sources within and outside Alabama, and the 2025 Form 40NR instructions report royalties from mineral leases on Schedule E with royalties from property located in Alabama listed separately. Official text cited Source and notes.
Severance or production tax. Privilege tax 8 percent of gross value, 6 percent for wells permitted since July 1, 1988 and 4 percent for low volume wells, plus a 2 percent production tax. Official text cited Full record: rates, exemptions, royalty owner share and sources.
Not tax advice. Rates change and the cited source controls.
Sources for the dormant mineral rule
Each source was read on the date shown. Where an official site was not available, the official page was read through a dated Internet Archive copy and that is stated.
- Ala. Code 35-19-9(d), the only code hit for the phrase 'dormant mineral'
“An environmental covenant may not be extinguished, limited, or impaired by application of any law relating to marketable title or dormant mineral interests.”
- Ala. Code 40-20-35
“all nonproducing interests in such oil, gas and other minerals, including royalty interests therein, hereafter conveyed to a grantee or purchaser or excepted or reserved to a grantor separately and apart from the surface shall be exempt from all ad valorem taxes”
- Ala. Code 40-20-35
“all nonproducing interests in such oil, gas and other minerals, including royalty interests therein, hereafter conveyed to a grantee or purchaser or excepted or reserved to a grantor separately and apart from the surface shall be exempt from all ad valorem taxes”
Open questions for a specialist
This review did not settle these points. They are where an Alabama title attorney or landman should look first.
Alabama case law on old or unused severed mineral interests (including any judicial presumption or repose doctrine) was not reviewed; the Code does not contain the phrase 'rule of repose'.
Whether pre-1957 severed interests never exempted under 40-20-35 can still be assessed and sold for taxes was not researched.
Common questions
Can mineral rights lapse in Alabama?
A search of Alabama’s official code found no dormant mineral, lapse or forfeiture statute, so an interest does not lapse through nonuse under a statute of that kind. Deeds, tax sales and title rules can still affect ownership.
Does Alabama allow forced pooling?
Yes. Alabama has a forced pooling statute, summarized with its citation under Forced pooling above.
Does Alabama require payment for surface damage?
A search of Alabama’s official code found no surface damages statute of that kind. Leases, deeds and general law can still give the surface owner a claim.
What changed
The June 2026 edition listed Alabama as Does not lapse, lapse period none. Release 2026.10 replaced that entry with the reviewed rule above, and retired the June risk score and ranking for every state. Release 2026.10.1 added the deceased or unlocated owner section. See all changes.
Cite this page
American Mineral Registry. "Abandoned Mineral Rights in Alabama." U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas, release 2026.10.1, October 6, 2026. https:// americanmineralregistry.com/ research/ states/ abandoned-mineral-rights-alabama
[Abandoned Mineral Rights in Alabama](https:// americanmineralregistry.com/ research/ states/ abandoned-mineral-rights-alabama), U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas, American Mineral Registry, release 2026.10.1 (2026-10-06).
<a href="https:// americanmineralregistry.com/ research/ states/ abandoned-mineral-rights-alabama">Abandoned Mineral Rights in Alabama</ a>, U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas, American Mineral Registry, release 2026.10.1 (2026-10-06).
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author = {{American Mineral Registry}},
title = {Abandoned Mineral Rights in Alabama},
howpublished = {U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas, release 2026.10.1},
date = {2026-10-06},
url = {https://americanmineralregistry.com/research/states/abandoned-mineral-rights-alabama}
} TY - ELEC AU - American Mineral Registry TI - Abandoned Mineral Rights in Alabama T2 - U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas ET - 2026.10.1 DA - 2026/10/ 06 UR - https:/ / americanmineralregistry.com/ research/ states/ abandoned-mineral-rights-alabama ER -
General information about statutes, not legal advice and not a title opinion. Facts about a specific interest decide the outcome. Published by American Mineral Registry, which also runs a commercial service for owners; see how the two relate.