State law reference
California Dormant Mineral Act
What does the California Dormant Mineral Act say? The owner of the land may sue in superior court to terminate a mineral right that has been dormant for the 20 years immediately before the suit. Dormant means no production or operations affecting the minerals, no separately assessed tax paid, no recorded instrument evidencing the right and no recorded notice of intent to preserve during that window.
Official text cited Researched and checked by American Mineral Registry against the official text; review completed October 1, 2026. Reference research, not legal advice.
- Rule type
- Dormant mineral statute
- Period
- 20 years
- Ends without a surface owner step
- No
- Preservation filing
- Available
- Forced pooling statute
- Statute found
Official text cited - Surface damages statute
- No statute found
- Deceased or unlocated owner
- Partly checked
How the rule works
Dormant mineral right statute, 20 years, court action by the surface owner required. The owner of the land may sue in superior court to terminate a mineral right that has been dormant for the 20 years immediately before the suit. Dormant means no production or operations affecting the minerals, no separately assessed tax paid, no recorded instrument evidencing the right and no recorded notice of intent to preserve during that window. The right never lapses by itself: it ends only by court order, and the mineral owner can still defeat the suit by recording a late notice and paying the surface owner's litigation expenses.
What has to happen
Action to terminate brought by the owner of the real property in the superior court of the county where the land lies, in the same manner and under the same procedure as a quiet title action (883.240). In the action the court must let the mineral owner record a late notice of intent to preserve as a condition of dismissal, on payment into court of the surface owner's litigation expenses including a reasonable attorney's fee (883.250). A terminating order is equivalent to a conveyance of the right to the owner of the real property (883.260).
What counts as use or preserves the interest
Production of the minerals
Exploration, drilling, mining, development or other operations that affect the minerals, on or below the surface of the land or on other property, whether or not unitized or pooled with the land
A separate property tax assessment of the mineral right on which taxes are paid
Recording of an instrument creating, reserving, transferring or otherwise evidencing the mineral right
Recording a notice of intent to preserve within the 20 years before the action (883.230(c)(1))
Recording a late notice of intent to preserve after the action is filed, with payment of the surface owner's litigation expenses (883.230(c)(2), 883.250)
Preservation filing
Notice of intent to preserve (Civ. Code 880.310 to 880.350 and 883.230), recordable at any time. It must be in writing, signed and verified by or for the claimant, and give each claimant's name and mailing address; for mineral rights it may refer generally to all mineral rights the claimant holds in any real property in the county instead of stating the character of the interest, its record location and a legal description (883.230(b)). It is recorded in the county where the land lies and indexed with each claimant as grantor; the statutory form is in 880.340.
Scope
- Interests covered
- Any mineral right created by grant or reservation, whether a fee or lesser interest, mineral, royalty or leasehold, absolute or fractional, including appurtenant surface rights (883.110), other than the interests excluded through 883.120 and 880.240.
- Minerals covered
- All minerals, regardless of character, fugacious or nonfugacious, organic or inorganic (883.110).
- Exceptions
Mineral rights reserved to the United States, and an oil or gas lease, mining claim or other mineral right of a person entitled under federal law, to the extent provided in 880.240 (883.120(a))
Mineral rights of the state or a local public entity (883.120(b), 880.240(c))
Interests of a person in possession, to the extent possession would be revealed by reasonable inspection or inquiry (880.240(a), applied through 883.120(b))
The chapter does not limit common law abandonment or any other statutory procedure for clearing an abandoned mineral right (883.130)
- Enactment and amendments
- Chapter 3 (883.110 to 883.270) added by Stats. 1984, ch. 240, sec. 2. It applies to all mineral rights whether executed or recorded before, on or after January 1, 1985, subject to the grace period in 880.370, which extends any recording period that would expire before, on or within five years after the statute's operative date until five years after that date. The notice of intent to preserve provisions date from Stats. 1982, ch. 1268; the notice form (880.340) was amended by Stats. 2012, ch. 94, effective January 1, 2013.
Dates and what they mean
The rule works through a court decision. A last use date plus the period shows only when a case could begin to be argued, not an outcome.
Nothing happens automatically. The 20 years are counted back from the day a termination suit is filed, and the owner can cure inside the suit. A calculator can at most show the first date on which a 20 year lookback from the last known qualifying event would be complete; it cannot show a date on which the right ends.
Deceased or unlocated owner
Partly checked What the law of California 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. Still open: court, receivership or trust for missing owners.
California ends a dormant mineral right only through a superior court action by the surface owner, and the dormancy test in Civil Code 883.220 does not mention a deceased, unknown or unlocated owner. Civil Code 883.240(b) runs the action under quiet title procedure "to the extent applicable", and that procedure joins a personal representative or the testate and intestate successors of a dead owner, names unknown persons, and allows publication only after a court finds reasonable diligence. Until judgment, any mineral owner can stop the action by recording a late notice of intent to preserve and paying the surface owner's litigation expenses. No California appellate decision applying these provisions to a missing or deceased owner was found.
- Owner of record has died
- The dormant mineral article does not mention death. Through 883.240(b), quiet title procedure joins the personal representative if one is known, otherwise, on affidavit, the decedent's "testate and intestate successors" by description (CCP 762.030). Whether death affects the 20 year dormancy period is not addressed.
- Current owner unknown
- Through 883.240(b), the complaint names "all persons unknown" (CCP 762.020(a), 762.060), and service on them by publication requires a court finding of reasonable diligence (CCP 763.010(b)). A notice of intent to preserve may be recorded for a claimant in a class whose identity cannot be established (Civ. Code 880.320(b)).
- Owner known but cannot be found
- Not separately defined. CCP 763.010(b) ties publication to reasonable diligence to ascertain "identity and residence" and to serve unknown defendants and successors; the provisions read do not set a separate publication rule for a named owner who is identified but cannot be found, beyond the general service law cited there, which was not reviewed.
How the nonuse rule treats these owners Statute
Termination needs a court action; dormancy is 20 years with no production or operations, no paid separate tax assessment and no recorded instrument, and the test does not refer to the owner's death, identity or whereabouts.
Statute
The owner of the land may sue to terminate a mineral right that is dormant. Cal. Civ. Code 883.210
“The owner of real property subject to a mineral right may bring an action to terminate the mineral right pursuant to this article if the mineral right is dormant.”
Scope: All mineral rights as defined in 883.110, except those excluded by 883.120. The right ends only by court order (883.260); there is no self executing lapse.
Dormancy is measured over the 20 years immediately before the action is filed, and the listed conditions do not refer to the owner being deceased, unknown or unlocated. Cal. Civ. Code 883.220
“a mineral right is dormant if all of the following conditions are satisfied for a period of 20 years immediately preceding commencement of the action to terminate the mineral right:”
Scope: The conditions are no production or operations, no separately assessed tax paid, and no recorded instrument. The section says nothing about death of the owner or an unknown or missing owner.
The action follows quiet title procedure to the extent applicable. Cal. Civ. Code 883.240(b)
“The action shall be brought in the same manner and shall be subject to the same procedure as an action to quiet title pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 760.010) of Title 10 of Part 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure, to the extent applicable.”
Scope: Imports the quiet title rules on parties, deceased and unknown defendants, service and judgment. Which quiet title rules are "applicable" is not further defined.
Heirs, devisees and successors Statute
The dormant mineral article speaks only of the "owner of a mineral right". Imported quiet title rules join a personal representative or the testate and intestate successors of a dead person, and a notice of intent to preserve can be recorded for a class whose identity cannot be established.
Statute
A notice of intent to preserve may be recorded on behalf of a claimant who belongs to a class whose identity cannot be established. Cal. Civ. Code 880.320(b)
“Another person acting on behalf of a claimant if the person is authorized to act on behalf of the claimant or if the claimant is one of a class whose identity cannot be established or is uncertain at the time of recording the notice of intent to preserve the interest.”
Scope: Applies to notices of intent to preserve under the Marketable Record Title title, including mineral rights through 883.230. It does not say who qualifies as a person acting on behalf of unidentified heirs.
If a person who must be named is dead and a personal representative is known, the representative is joined. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 762.030(a)
“If a person required to be named as a defendant is dead and the plaintiff knows of a personal representative, the plaintiff shall join the personal representative as a defendant.”
Scope: Code of Civil Procedure quiet title procedure, which Civ. Code 883.240(b) applies to dormant mineral actions only "to the extent applicable". No decision was found deciding how far it applies.
If no personal representative is known, the plaintiff files an affidavit and may join the decedent's testate and intestate successors by description. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 762.030(b)(2)
“Where it is stated in the affidvit that such person is dead, the plaintiff may join as defendants "the testate and intestate successors of ____ (naming the deceased person), deceased, and all persons claiming by, through, or under such decedent," naming them in that manner.”
Scope: Code of Civil Procedure quiet title procedure, which Civ. Code 883.240(b) applies to dormant mineral actions only "to the extent applicable". No decision was found deciding how far it applies. 762.030(b)(3) gives a parallel form for a person believed to be dead.
Search required to find the owner Statute
The plaintiff must name claimants of record, known, or reasonably apparent from inspection, and must show reasonable diligence to ascertain identity and residence before publication.
Statute
Persons whose adverse claims are of record, known, or apparent from inspecting the property must be named. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 762.060(b)
“In an action under this section, the plaintiff shall name as defendants the persons having adverse claims that are of record or known to the plaintiff or reasonably apparent from an inspection of the property.”
Scope: Code of Civil Procedure quiet title procedure, which Civ. Code 883.240(b) applies to dormant mineral actions only "to the extent applicable". No decision was found deciding how far it applies.
Publication is ordered for unknown defendants and successors of a dead or presumed dead person only on an affidavit of reasonable diligence, and the court may appoint a referee to check that diligence. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 763.010(b)
“If upon affidavit it appears to the satisfaction of the court that the plaintiff has used reasonable diligence to ascertain the identity and residence of and to serve summons on the persons named as unknown defendants and persons joined as testate or intestate successors of a person known or believed to be dead, the court shall order service by publication”
Scope: Code of Civil Procedure quiet title procedure, which Civ. Code 883.240(b) applies to dormant mineral actions only "to the extent applicable". No decision was found deciding how far it applies. Section 415.50, which this subsection cites, was not reviewed. 763.010(c) bars publication on an unknown defendant in open and actual possession.
Who gets notice, and how Statute
Summons is served as in civil actions generally; unknown claimants are named as all persons unknown.
Statute
When a defendant's name is unknown, the complaint must say so and name all persons unknown. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 762.020(a)
“If the name of a person required to be named as a defendant is not known to the plaintiff, the plaintiff shall so state in the complaint and shall name as parties all persons unknown in the manner provided in Section 762.060.”
Scope: Code of Civil Procedure quiet title procedure, which Civ. Code 883.240(b) applies to dormant mineral actions only "to the extent applicable". No decision was found deciding how far it applies.
Summons is served as in civil actions generally. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 763.010(a)
“The form, content, and manner of the service of summons shall be the same as in civil actions generally.”
Scope: Code of Civil Procedure quiet title procedure, which Civ. Code 883.240(b) applies to dormant mineral actions only "to the extent applicable". No decision was found deciding how far it applies. The general service statutes were not reviewed.
Notice by publication Statute
Publication is ordered on an affidavit of reasonable diligence for unknown defendants and successors of a dead or presumed dead person, with posting on the property and a recorded notice of pendency.
Statute
Publication is ordered for unknown defendants and successors of a dead or presumed dead person only on an affidavit of reasonable diligence, and the court may appoint a referee to check that diligence. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 763.010(b)
“If upon affidavit it appears to the satisfaction of the court that the plaintiff has used reasonable diligence to ascertain the identity and residence of and to serve summons on the persons named as unknown defendants and persons joined as testate or intestate successors of a person known or believed to be dead, the court shall order service by publication”
Scope: Code of Civil Procedure quiet title procedure, which Civ. Code 883.240(b) applies to dormant mineral actions only "to the extent applicable". No decision was found deciding how far it applies. Section 415.50, which this subsection cites, was not reviewed. 763.010(c) bars publication on an unknown defendant in open and actual possession.
A publication order also requires posting on the property and recording a notice of pendency. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 763.020(a), (b)
“The plaintiff shall post, not later than 10 days after the date the order is made, a copy of the summons and complaint in a conspicuous place on the real property that is the subject of the action. (b) The plaintiff shall record, if not already recorded, a notice of the pendency of the action.”
Scope: Code of Civil Procedure quiet title procedure, which Civ. Code 883.240(b) applies to dormant mineral actions only "to the extent applicable". No decision was found deciding how far it applies.
How the owner responds or preserves Statute
The owner may record a notice of intent to preserve at any time, or a late notice during the action on paying litigation expenses; the court may not enter judgment by default; the judgment binds known and unknown parties.
Statute
The mineral owner may defeat the action by recording a late notice of intent to preserve and paying the surface owner's litigation expenses. Cal. Civ. Code 883.250
“the court shall permit the owner of the mineral right to record a late notice of intent to preserve the mineral right as a condition of dismissal of the action, upon payment into court for the benefit of the owner of the real property the litigation expenses attributable to the mineral right”
Scope: Any owner of the mineral right in a pending action. It does not say how an heir who has not been identified would learn of the action.
A notice of intent to preserve may be recorded at any time, and one recorded within the 20 year window prevents dormancy. Cal. Civ. Code 883.230(a), (c)(1)
“(a) An owner of a mineral right may at any time record a notice of intent to preserve the mineral right.”
Scope: Owners of mineral rights. 883.230(c)(1) adds that a notice recorded within 20 years immediately preceding commencement of the action means the right is not dormant.
The court may not enter a default judgment; it must hear evidence of the plaintiff's title. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 764.010
“The court shall not enter judgment by default but shall in all cases require evidence of plaintiff's title and hear such evidence as may be offered respecting the claims of any of the defendants, other than claims the validity of which is admitted by the plaintiff in the complaint.”
Scope: Code of Civil Procedure quiet title procedure, which Civ. Code 883.240(b) applies to dormant mineral actions only "to the extent applicable". No decision was found deciding how far it applies.
The judgment binds known and unknown parties regardless of legal disability. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 764.030(a)
“All persons known and unknown who were parties to the action and who have any claim to the property, whether present or future, vested or contingent, legal or equitable, several or undivided.”
Scope: Code of Civil Procedure quiet title procedure, which Civ. Code 883.240(b) applies to dormant mineral actions only "to the extent applicable". No decision was found deciding how far it applies. The lead in words of 764.030 say the judgment is binding "regardless of any legal disability".
Court, receivership or trust for missing owners Not yet verified
No verified statement yet.
What a title review must establish
- Was a notice of intent to preserve recorded within the 20 years before suit, including one recorded on behalf of a class of unidentified claimants?
- Is the record owner dead, and if so was a personal representative joined or were the testate and intestate successors joined on affidavit?
- Did the court make a reasonable diligence finding, or a referee report, before ordering publication, and were posting and a notice of pendency done?
- Was the judgment entered on evidence rather than by default?
Dates. Dormancy uses the 20 years immediately preceding commencement of the action (883.220). A notice of intent to preserve recorded within 20 years immediately preceding commencement prevents dormancy (883.230(c)(1)). After a publication order the summons and complaint are posted not later than 10 days after the date the order is made (CCP 763.020(a)). 883.270 applies the article to all mineral rights subject to the 880.370 grace period, which extends a period expiring before, on, or within five years after the statute's operative date until five years after that date. Nothing computed. The rule finder does not calculate this period.
What AMR searched. California Legislative Information, read with a headless browser because plain requests met a Cloudflare challenge: Civil Code 883.110 to 883.270 (Articles 1 and 2), 880.310 to 880.370, Code of Civil Procedure 762.010 to 762.090, 763.010 to 763.040, 764.010 to 764.030. Case law: CourtListener search of the California Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal for "dormant mineral" returned five opinions; Worthington v. Alcala (1992) 10 Cal.App.4th 1404 and Severns v. Union Pacific (2002) 101 Cal.App.4th 1209 were read from Caselaw Access Project files and neither applies 883.210 to 883.270 to deceased, unknown or unlocated owners. Not reviewed: CCP 415.50 (publication generally), probate, general quiet title beyond the sections listed, the unclaimed property law, and the Public Resources Code. One web search for a California unknown mineral owner statute found none. 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.
Does the California unclaimed property law, or any Public Resources Code provision, hold oil and gas proceeds of unlocated owners? Not reviewed.
How far does 883.240(b) "to the extent applicable" import CCP 762.030 and 763.010 into dormant mineral actions? No decision found.
A citator check of 883.210 to 883.270 for unpublished or recent appellate decisions is still needed.
Checked October 6, 2026. Also in the dormant mineral rule finder.
Forced pooling
Official text cited No general forced pooling procedure for drilling units was found, but three narrower compulsory tools exist in the Public Resources Code. Section 3608 deems a surrounded tract of less than one acre included in the adjoining oil and gas lease once the supervisor records a declaration, with at least a one eighth royalty share; section 3609 lets the supervisor require pooling or unit agreements, including mandatory pooling by regulation, under a spacing plan for pools discovered after it took effect (Stats. 1973, ch. 864); and sections 3640 to 3659 let the supervisor order secondary recovery unit operations binding every owner once three fourths of working and royalty interests consent, with a right for nonconsenting owners to sell. Subsiding areas have a separate compulsory unit procedure (3315 to 3347).
- Cal. Pub. Res. Code § 3608
- Cal. Pub. Res. Code § 3609
- Cal. Pub. Res. Code § 3642
- Cal. Pub. Res. Code § 3645
- Cal. Pub. Res. Code § 3322.1
Surface damages
No statute found No statute was found that requires oil and gas operators to compensate surface owners for surface damage. Civil Code 848 is notice only: before first entry a mineral rights owner must give the surface owner written notice, at least 5 days ahead for work that does not disturb the surface and 30 days ahead for drilling or other surface disturbing work, unless a surface use agreement exists, and the surface owner may ask a court to enjoin operations until notice is given.
Searched: leginfo Civil Code section 848 (full text) and the Public Resources Code Division 3 table of contents; one web search for a California surface damages compensation statute returned none. A full text search across all California codes was not run.
Taxes
Broad personal income tax: yes. Residents are taxed on all income from all sources and nonresidents only on California source income, including rents and royalties related to property located in California, and the Form 592 instructions list royalties among payments subject to withholding at 7%, or a reduced amount the FTB authorizes, once California source payments exceed $1,500 in a calendar year. Official text cited Source and notes.
Severance or production tax. No statewide severance tax; a CalGEM assessment of about $1.28 per barrel of oil or per 10 Mcf of gas for fiscal year 2025/26. Core rule 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.
- Cal. Civ. Code § 883.210
“The owner of real property subject to a mineral right may bring an action to terminate the mineral right pursuant to this article if the mineral right is dormant.”
- Cal. Civ. Code § 883.220
“a mineral right is dormant if all of the following conditions are satisfied for a period of 20 years immediately preceding commencement of the action to terminate the mineral right: (a) There is no production of the minerals and no exploration, drilling, mining, development, or other operations that affect the minerals”
- Cal. Civ. Code § 883.230(c)(1)
“A mineral right is not dormant for the purpose of this article if: (1) A notice of intent to preserve the mineral right is recorded within 20 years immediately preceding commencement of the action to terminate the mineral right.”
- Cal. Civ. Code § 883.240(b)
“The action shall be brought in the same manner and shall be subject to the same procedure as an action to quiet title pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 760.010) of Title 10 of Part 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure, to the extent applicable.”
- Cal. Civ. Code § 883.250
“the court shall permit the owner of the mineral right to record a late notice of intent to preserve the mineral right as a condition of dismissal of the action, upon payment into court for the benefit of the owner of the real property the litigation expenses”
- Cal. Civ. Code § 883.260
“A mineral right terminated pursuant to this article is unenforceable and is deemed to have expired. A court order terminating a mineral right pursuant to this article is equivalent for all purposes to a conveyance of the mineral right to the owner of the real property.”
- Cal. Civ. Code § 883.110
““mineral right” means an interest in minerals, regardless of character, whether fugacious or nonfugacious, organic or inorganic, that is created by grant or reservation, regardless of form, whether a fee or lesser interest, mineral, royalty, or leasehold, absolute or fractional”
- Cal. Civ. Code § 883.120
“This chapter does not apply to a mineral right of the state or a local public entity, or of any other person, to the extent provided in Section 880.240.”
- Cal. Civ. Code § 883.270
“Subject to Section 880.370 (grace period for recording notice), this article applies to all mineral rights, whether executed or recorded before, on, or after January 1, 1985.”
- Cal. Civ. Code § 880.370
“If the period prescribed by statute during which a notice of intent to preserve an interest in real property must be recorded expires before, on, or within five years after the operative date of the statute, the period is extended until five years after the operative date of the statute.”
- Cal. Civ. Code § 880.330(a)
“A notice of intent to preserve an interest in real property shall be in writing and signed and verified by or on behalf of the claimant.”
Open questions for a specialist
This review did not settle these points. They are where a California title attorney or landman should look first.
No California appellate decisions construing 883.210 to 883.270 were researched, for example on what counts as operations that affect the minerals on other property.
The operative date that 880.370 measures from for this chapter (most likely January 1, 1985, which would put the grace deadline at January 1, 1990) should be confirmed.
Whether 880.240(b) leaves federally patented split estates outside the statute in particular counties should be checked by a specialist.
Common questions
Can mineral rights lapse in California?
Yes, but not by itself (Dormant mineral right statute, 20 years, court action by the surface owner required). In California an interest ends only after the surface owner or another party takes the steps the statute requires, such as a notice or a court action, and each step, with its citation, is under How the rule works.
How long before unused mineral rights lapse in California?
20 years. The 20 years immediately preceding commencement of the action to terminate (Civ. Code 883.220). Production, exploration, drilling, mining, development or other operations affecting the minerals (on the land or on other land, pooled or not), payment of tax on a separate assessment of the right, a recorded instrument creating, transferring or evidencing the right, or a recorded notice of intent to preserve anywhere inside that window defeats dormancy.
How can an owner keep a California mineral interest from lapsing?
By recording the filing the statute provides before the period runs. What it must contain and where it is recorded are under Preservation filing above.
Does California allow forced pooling?
Yes. California has a forced pooling statute, summarized with its citation under Forced pooling above.
Does California require payment for surface damage?
A search of California’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 California as Can lapse / revert, lapse period 20 years. 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. "California Dormant Mineral Act." U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas, release 2026.10.1, October 6, 2026. https:// americanmineralregistry.com/ research/ states/ california-dormant-mineral-act
[California Dormant Mineral Act](https:// americanmineralregistry.com/ research/ states/ california-dormant-mineral-act), U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas, American Mineral Registry, release 2026.10.1 (2026-10-06).
<a href="https:// americanmineralregistry.com/ research/ states/ california-dormant-mineral-act">California Dormant Mineral Act</ a>, U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas, American Mineral Registry, release 2026.10.1 (2026-10-06).
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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.