State law reference
Nebraska Dormant Mineral Act
What does the Nebraska Dormant Mineral Act say? A surface owner may sue in equity to terminate a severed mineral interest whose record owner has not publicly exercised ownership in the 23 years immediately before the suit, by a recorded instrument, by drilling, mining or production, or by a recorded verified claim of interest. If the court finds the interest abandoned it cancels it and vests title in the surface owners.
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
- 23 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 statute, 23 years, suit in equity by the surface owner required. A surface owner may sue in equity to terminate a severed mineral interest whose record owner has not publicly exercised ownership in the 23 years immediately before the suit, by a recorded instrument, by drilling, mining or production, or by a recorded verified claim of interest. If the court finds the interest abandoned it cancels it and vests title in the surface owners. There is no late filing cure once suit is filed, and the Nebraska Supreme Court requires strict compliance and holds that the record owner must be the one who exercises ownership.
What has to happen
Suit in equity by any surface owner, for himself and the other surface owners, in the county where the land lies, naming everyone having or appearing to have an interest, with unknown defendants proceeded against under Chapter 25, article 3 (57-228). If the court finds abandonment it enters judgment terminating and extinguishing the interest, canceling it of record and vesting title in the owners of the surface from which it was severed, in proportion to their surface ownership (57-230).
What counts as use or preserves the interest
Acquiring, selling, leasing, pooling, utilizing, mortgaging, encumbering or transferring the interest or any part of it by an instrument properly recorded in the county where the land lies
Drilling or mining for, removing, producing or withdrawing minerals from under the land, or using the geological formations, spaces or cavities below the surface for any purpose consistent with the rights conveyed or reserved
Recording a verified claim of interest in the county where the land lies
In actions filed within two years after October 23, 1967, appearing and asserting the interest (57-231)
Preservation filing
Verified claim of interest recorded in the county where the land lies. It must describe the land and the nature of the interest, properly identify the deed or other instrument under which the interest is claimed, give each claimant's name and address, and state that the claimants claim the interest and do not intend to abandon it (57-229). According to the official annotations, Rice v. Bixler (2014) held that reference to an unrecorded deed does not establish the chain of ownership needed for a valid claim.
Scope
- Interests covered
- Severed mineral interests; the statute does not define the term or distinguish royalty interests. Only acts of the record owner count, and the record owner can include a person shown by county probate records (Gibbs Cattle Co. v. Bixler, 2013, per the official annotations).
- Minerals covered
- Not limited by the text to particular minerals.
- Exceptions
Mineral interests of which the State of Nebraska or any of its political subdivisions is the record owner (57-229)
The Nebraska Supreme Court held 57-228 to 57-231 unconstitutional insofar as they could be read to operate retroactively (Monahan Cattle Co. v. Goodwin and Wheelock & Manning 00 Ranches v. Heath, 1978, per the official annotations)
- Enactment and amendments
- Laws 1967, c. 348, sections 1 to 4 (57-228 to 57-231). Owners sued within two years after October 23, 1967 could appear and assert their interest and were deemed to have timely exercised ownership (57-231). Sections 57-232 and 57-233 were repealed by Laws 1971, LB 636. No later amendment appears in the Source lines read.
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.
The 23 years are counted back from the day a surface owner files suit, and the interest ends only by judgment. A calculator can show when a 23 year lookback from the last public act by the record owner would be complete, but not a termination date, and acts by anyone other than the record owner do not count.
Deceased or unlocated owner
Partly checked What the law of Nebraska 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. Ricks v. Vap and Monahan Cattle were not read, and whether a judgment on publication binds identifiable heirs is open.
Nebraska ends a dormant severed mineral interest only through a surface owner's suit in equity, and the record owner must have publicly exercised ownership in the twenty three years before suit. Notice is the lawsuit itself: all persons with an apparent interest are named, and those not known and not ascertainable may be sued as unknown defendants under the general civil procedure chapter, which requires diligent investigation, with publication only on an affidavit that other service cannot be made with reasonable diligence. The Supreme Court holds that the record owner can be identified from county probate records, so an heir or devisee shown there gets a fresh twenty three year period from acquisition, but claimants must strictly comply and a claim recorded after suit is too late. Separately, a county court can authorize leasing of a decedent's interest and appoint a trustee for unknown owners or unknown heirs.
- Owner of record has died
- Gibbs (2013): an heir or devisee identified in probate records of the county is a record owner whose own twenty three year period runs from acquisition. Heirs must strictly comply when filing claims (Rice 2014). County court leasing of a decedent's interest (57-210).
- Current owner unknown
- Unknown defendants may be sued under chapter 25, article 3 (57-228, 25-321) after diligent investigation; unknown heirs, devisees or legatees may be represented by a court appointed trustee in a lease proceeding (57-212.01).
- Owner known but cannot be found
- Identified defendants whose whereabouts are unknown are served under the general service rules; publication requires an affidavit that service cannot be made with reasonable diligence by other statutory means (25-517.02). Not otherwise addressed in the mineral provisions read.
How the nonuse rule treats these owners Statute and court decisions
Court action by the surface owner; abandonment unless the record owner publicly exercised ownership within twenty three years before suit; a devisee shown in county probate records has her own period.
Statute
The interest is abandoned unless the record owner publicly exercised ownership in the twenty three years before the action was filed. Neb. Rev. Stat. 57-229
“A severed mineral interest shall be abandoned unless the record owner of such mineral interest has within the twenty-three years immediately prior to the filing of the action provided for in sections 57-228 to 57-231, exercised publicly the right of ownership by”
Scope: All severed mineral interests except those of which the state or a political subdivision is record owner.
If the court finds abandonment, it terminates the interest and vests title in the surface owners. Neb. Rev. Stat. 57-230
“If the court shall find that the severed mineral interest has been abandoned, it shall enter judgment terminating and extinguishing it, canceling it of record, and vesting the title thereto in the owner or owners of the interest in the surface from which it was originally severed”
Scope: Judgment in a 57-228 action.
Court decisions
A devisee identified through county probate records had her own twenty three year period running from her acquisition at death. Gibbs Cattle Co. v. Bixler, 285 Neb. 952 (2013)
“And because she acquired her interest in 1996, her 23-year statutory period has not elapsed and her property cannot be deemed abandoned.”
Scope: Nebraska Supreme Court, controls statewide. The decedent died in 1996 and his estate was probated in the county. The trial court's view that a transfer by will is not itself a public exercise was not challenged on appeal and was not decided.
Heirs, devisees and successors Court decision
The statute speaks only of the record owner; case law extends that to owners identified in county probate records and requires a proper chain of title in claims.
Court decisions
The record owner may be identified from county probate records as well as from the register of deeds. Gibbs Cattle Co. v. Bixler, 285 Neb. 952 (2013)
“We hold that the "record owner" of mineral interests, as used in § 57-229, may be determined not only from the register of deeds, but also from probate records in the county where the interests are located.”
Scope: Nebraska Supreme Court, controls statewide. Probate records were in the county where the minerals lay; the decision does not address out of county probate.
A claim that refers to an unrecorded deed does not establish the chain of ownership required for a verified claim. Rice v. Bixler, 289 Neb. 194 (2014)
“Reference to an unrecorded deed that may or may not exist does not establish the proper chain of ownership necessary to comply with the requirements for filing a verified claim.”
Scope: Nebraska Supreme Court, controls statewide.
Search required to find the owner Statute
Diligent investigation and inquiry before suing unknown claimants (25-321); reasonable diligence before substitute service (25-517.02). No mineral specific search standard.
Statute
Persons whose interest does not appear of record may be sued as all persons claiming an interest, real names unknown, after diligent investigation and inquiry. Neb. Rev. Stat. 25-321
“after diligent investigation and inquiry, is unable to ascertain and does not know the names or whereabouts if in this state, or the residence of such persons, such action may proceed against all such persons designated as "all persons having or claiming any interest in" such property”
Scope: General civil procedure, incorporated for unknown defendants by 57-228. Applies where the claimants' interest does not appear of record in their names. Not mineral specific.
Who gets notice, and how Statute
All persons having or appearing to have an interest are named as defendants; unknown ones proceed under chapter 25, article 3.
Statute
The surface owner sues in equity, naming everyone who has or appears to have an interest, and may proceed against unknown defendants under chapter 25, article 3. Neb. Rev. Stat. 57-228
“naming as parties defendant therein all persons having or appearing to have any interest in such severed mineral interest, and if such parties defendant are not known and cannot be ascertained, they may be proceeded against as unknown defendants under the provisions of Chapter 25, article 3.”
Scope: Every action to terminate a severed mineral interest. Notice is through the lawsuit and its service of process, not a separate notice of lapse.
Notice by publication Statute
Publication by court order on affidavit that service cannot be made with reasonable diligence otherwise (general rule).
Statute
Service by publication or other substitute means requires a court order on an affidavit that service cannot be made with reasonable diligence by other statutory methods. Neb. Rev. Stat. 25-517.02
“Upon motion and showing by affidavit that service cannot be made with reasonable diligence by any other method provided by statute, the court may permit service to be made (1) by leaving the process at the defendant's usual place of residence and mailing a copy by first-class mail to the defendant's last-known address, (2) by publication”
Scope: General civil procedure; its application to 57-228 actions is by way of the ordinary service rules and was not tested against a mineral case. Other chapter 25 service sections were not reviewed.
How the owner responds or preserves Statute and court decisions
Record owner must have publicly exercised ownership, including a verified claim identifying the source instrument, before suit; strict compliance; post suit claims do not count. The only after suit cure in the text is the expired 1967 transitional rule in 57-231.
Statute
A verified claim of interest must identify the instrument under which the interest is claimed and give the claimants' names and addresses. Neb. Rev. Stat. 57-229
“shall properly identify the deed or other instrument under which the interest is claimed, shall give the name and address of the person or persons claiming the interest, and shall state that such person or persons claim the interest and do not intend to abandon the same.”
Scope: Verified claims, which must be recorded within the twenty three years before suit. The statute provides no cure after suit is filed.
Court decisions
Severed mineral owners, including heirs filing verified claims, must strictly comply with 57-229. Rice v. Bixler, 289 Neb. 194 (2014)
“we hold that severed mineral owners must strictly comply with the statutory requirements of § 57-229 and that the district court erred in concluding that substantial compliance was sufficient.”
Scope: Nebraska Supreme Court, controls statewide. Claimants included heirs of owners who died intestate or testate.
A claim of interest recorded after the surface owner's suit was filed did not save the interest. Fisher v. Heirs & Devisees of T.D. Lovercheck, 291 Neb. 9 (2015)
“Because US Bank did not publicly exercise its right of ownership during the 23 years preceding the original complaint, the Fishers are entitled to summary judgment.”
Scope: Nebraska Supreme Court, controls statewide. Defendant was a trustee of a trust, not an heir; an amended complaint adding the real party in interest related back under 25-301.
Court, receivership or trust for missing owners Statute
County court authorized oil and gas leases of decedents' interests, with a trustee for unknown owners or unknown heirs, devisees or legatees (57-210 to 57-212.01). No receivership or trust for unlocated owners as such was found.
Statute
The county court may authorize an executor, administrator, guardian, conservator or trustee to lease the oil and gas interest of a deceased person or protected person. Neb. Rev. Stat. 57-210
“for authority to lease any interest in real estate, or any part thereof, of any deceased person, beneficiary of a trust, minor, incompetent, or person unfit by reason of infirmities of age or physical disability”
Scope: Interests of decedents in administration and of protected persons; procedure in 57-211 and 57-212.
Where there are unknown owners or unknown heirs or devisees of deceased owners, the court follows 25-321 and may appoint a trustee to represent them before authorizing a lease. Neb. Rev. Stat. 57-212.01
“the court may, upon the hearing of the petition, appoint a trustee to represent the interests of such unknown owners, or unknown heirs, devisees, or legatees and to carry out the orders of the court with respect thereto.”
Scope: Lease petitions under 57-210 to 57-212.01 only. Whether a lease made this way is a public exercise of ownership under 57-229 is not addressed in the provisions read.
What a title review must establish
- Who is the record owner under both the register of deeds and county probate records, and when did each acquire (succession, mechanism)?
- Did any record owner publicly exercise ownership, including a strictly compliant verified claim, before the suit was filed (response)?
- Were all apparent owners named, and were unknown defendants proceeded against under 25-321 with a diligent investigation shown (notice, search)?
- Was service by publication ordered on a reasonable diligence affidavit (publication)?
- Was any lease authorized under 57-210 to 57-212.01 with a trustee for unknown heirs (special_mechanism)?
Dates. Abandonment test runs 'within the twenty-three years immediately prior to the filing of the action'; any qualifying act extends the interest 'for a period of twenty-three years from the date of any such acts' (57-229). Gibbs (2013) treats a devisee identified in county probate records as having her own period from acquisition. Section 57-231 applied only to actions 'filed within two years after October 23, 1967'. Monahan Cattle Co. v. Goodwin (1978), cited in the Legislature's annotations, limits retroactive application; that opinion was not read. The rule finder does not calculate this period.
What AMR searched. Read: Neb. Rev. Stat. 57-228 to 57-231, 57-210, 57-211, 57-212, 57-212.01, 25-321, 25-322, 25-323, 25-517.02 (Nebraska Legislature pages via Internet Archive; the official host was not available when AMR checked). Chapter 57 section index scanned for unknown, whereabouts, absent, nonresident, missing, heir, trust, receiver, deceased. Opinions read: Gibbs Cattle Co. v. Bixler (2013), Rice v. Bixler (2014), Fisher v. Heirs & Devisees of T.D. Lovercheck (2015). CourtListener result list for '57-229' also showed Ricks v. Vap (2010), WTJ Skavdahl Land v. Elliott (2013), Monahan Cattle Co. v. Goodwin and Wheelock & Manning 00 Ranches v. Heath (1978), which were not read. Not reviewed: other chapter 25 service sections, probate, quiet title chapter 25-21,112. 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 a 57-228 judgment against heirs served only by publication as unknown defendants is open to attack where heirs were identifiable; no Nebraska mineral decision on this was found.
Whether probate records outside the county count after Gibbs.
Whether a lease authorized under 57-210 to 57-212.01 for unknown heirs is a public exercise of ownership under 57-229.
Checked October 6, 2026. Also in the dormant mineral rule finder.
Forced pooling
Official text cited Absent voluntary pooling, the Nebraska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission may, on application or on its own motion, pool all interests in a spacing unit (57-909); a nonconsenting owner pays out of production after the operator recovers 300 to 500 percent of well costs and 200 to 500 percent of equipment costs depending on well depth, and an unleased owner is treated as a lessee of seven eighths and lessor of one eighth. Compulsory unitization requires written consent of owners of at least 75 percent of unit production and, for the operating plan, 65 percent of costs (57-910.03).
Surface damages
No statute found No statute requiring oil and gas operators to notify and compensate surface owners for damage was found in Chapter 57 (Oil, Gas, and Minerals).
Searched: Nebraska Legislature Chapter 57 section caption index (227 sections, Internet Archive snapshot January 23, 2026) searched for surface, damage, owner and notice; the only caption mentioning damages concerns easements across public lands (57-1103), and no caption concerns compensation of surface owners for oil and gas operations. Other chapters and commission rules were not searched.
Taxes
Broad personal income tax: yes. Nonresidents owe Nebraska tax on income derived from sources within Nebraska, which includes items attributable to the ownership or disposition of any interest in real or tangible personal property in Nebraska, and residents are taxed on their entire income. Official text cited Source and notes.
Severance or production tax. 3 percent of value, 2 percent for stripper oil, plus a conservation charge of up to 1.5 percent. 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.
- Neb. Rev. Stat. § 57-228
“Any owner or owners of the surface of real estate from which a mineral interest has been severed, on behalf of himself and any other owners of such interest in the surface, may sue in equity in the county where such real estate, or some part thereof, is located, praying for the termination and extinguishment of such severed mineral interest”
- Neb. Rev. Stat. § 57-229
“A severed mineral interest shall be abandoned unless the record owner of such mineral interest has within the twenty-three years immediately prior to the filing of the action provided for in sections 57-228 to 57-231, exercised publicly the right of ownership by”
- Neb. Rev. Stat. § 57-229
“A severed mineral interest shall be abandoned unless the record owner of such mineral interest has within the twenty-three years immediately prior to the filing of the action provided for in sections 57-228 to 57-231, exercised publicly the right of ownership by”
- Neb. Rev. Stat. § 57-230
“If the court shall find that the severed mineral interest has been abandoned, it shall enter judgment terminating and extinguishing it, canceling it of record, and vesting the title thereto in the owner or owners of the interest in the surface from which it was originally severed”
- Neb. Rev. Stat. § 57-231
“In any action filed within two years after October 23, 1967, the owner of a severed mineral interest may enter his appearance and assert his interest therein, and he shall be deemed thereby to have timely and publicly exercised his right of ownership.”
- Annotation to Neb. Rev. Stat. § 57-228 citing Monahan Cattle Co. v. Goodwin, 201 Neb. 845, 272 N.W.2d 774 (1978)
“Sections 57-228 to 57-231 which declared that mineral rights were abandoned unless the record owner had exercised ownership rights within twenty-three years immediately prior to the filing of an action to cancel the severed mineral interest, are unconstitutional insofar as the statutory provisions could be interpreted to be retroactive in their operation.”
- Annotation to Neb. Rev. Stat. § 57-229 citing Ricks v. Vap, 280 Neb. 130, 784 N.W.2d 432 (2010)
“The plain language of this section provides that a severed mineral interest is abandoned unless the record owner of the interest is the one who publicly exercises it.”
Open questions for a specialist
This review did not settle these points. They are where a Nebraska title attorney or landman should look first.
The official site was not available when AMR checked; amendments after the snapshot dates (May 2025 to August 2026) were not checked against session laws.
How Monahan and Wheelock limit application to nonuse before October 23, 1967, and how Peterson v. Sanders (2011) treats post 1967 transfers, is set out in the opinions, which were not read for this review.
Whether production by a lessee, rather than by the record owner, counts as the record owner's public exercise under 57-229(2) should be checked in the case law.
Common questions
Can mineral rights lapse in Nebraska?
Yes, but not by itself (Dormant mineral statute, 23 years, suit in equity by the surface owner required). In Nebraska 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 Nebraska?
23 years. The 23 years immediately prior to the filing of the action (Neb. Rev. Stat. 57-229). Each qualifying act extends the interest for 23 years from the date of the act.
How can an owner keep a Nebraska 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 Nebraska allow forced pooling?
Yes. Nebraska has a forced pooling statute, summarized with its citation under Forced pooling above.
Does Nebraska require payment for surface damage?
A search of Nebraska’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 Nebraska as Can lapse / revert, lapse period 23 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. "Nebraska Dormant Mineral Act." U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas, release 2026.10.1, October 6, 2026. https:// americanmineralregistry.com/ research/ states/ nebraska-dormant-mineral-act
[Nebraska Dormant Mineral Act](https:// americanmineralregistry.com/ research/ states/ nebraska-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/ nebraska-dormant-mineral-act">Nebraska Dormant Mineral Act</ a>, U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas, American Mineral Registry, release 2026.10.1 (2026-10-06).
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title = {Nebraska Dormant Mineral Act},
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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.